Celtics escape Detroit with win, beat Pistons 124-118

The 2-0 Boston Celtics visited the 0-2 Detroit Pistons for their first of three regular season matches Saturday night. Boston is perfect on the year so far with a pair of wins to open up the 2024-25 campaign. Both teams came into the evening with slightly reduced rotations due to injury, with Sam Hauser and Kristaps Porzingis out for the C’s, whilst rookie Bobi Klintman and second-year man Ausar Thompson were both sidelined for the home team Pistons.

A Jaylen Brown three-pointer opened the scoring followed by a brace of triples for Al Horford and Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff was left no choice but to call a quick timeout to settle his young squad at the 9-minute mark down 10-4. Not to be outdone, JT got in on the act with three triples at the 45 and an explosive two-handed dunk on route to register 17 dominant first quarter points.

Young athletic Detroit guard Jaden Ivey and big man Jalen Duran both scored 4 points, whilst veteran journeyman Tobias Harris paced the Pistons with 6 points. That was enough to keep the scoreboard ticking over but the Celtics would end the quarter up 42-31. From the statisticians, that would be good enough for Boston to register 118 points, the highest scoring for three opening quarters to start a season in NBA history.

Payton Pritchard continues to light it up from behind the arc for Boston, as the former Oregon Duck scorched the Dee-troit bucket for 4-6 from downtown to open the second period with 16 points in just 9 minutes. Cade Cunningham who was on quite the scoring tear coming into the game was slow to start this game, matched up against the likes of Derrick White and Jaylen Brown with some fine individual defense, he would finish the half with 8 points behind Jaden Ivey, who paced the Pistons with 18.

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38 year-young Al Horford returned the wellspring of eternal life after a slow scoring first two games with just 11, eclipsed that total in first half alone, with 17 points behind a stunning 5-8 from downtown. Boston’s largest lead in the 2nd quarter ballooned out to 23 points at one point, but Detroit kept attacking the rim and got it back to 11 points, to trail 73-62 at the half.

Detroit finally appeared to get the memo that Boston is pretty good at this three-point shooting caper, as the Bickerstaff’s Pistons finally started to defend the perimeter with more force. Jaden Ivey’s pace and quickness coupled with a string of good defensive plays as Detroit went on a 11-2 run to push the Boston starters.

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A flagrant foul adjudicated on a Tobias Harris forearm to Jaylen Brown’s head sparked the small crowd in Detroit as the Pistons woke up. A pair of hustle plays from big man, Isaiah Stewart led to a pair of paint scores for the Pistons. The swarming Detroit defenders turned the tide on the Celtics as misses and late shot clock heaves crept into the game as Detroit finally took the lead 88-86. The Celtics shots eventually started to fall very late behind Tillman and Tatum’s deep bombs, after three quarters it would be 94-93.

The start of the final quarter was end-to-end stuff as both teams traded paint baskets. A deep Malik Beasley triple, his fourth of the outing gave Detroit the lead 108-106 with seven and half minutes to go in the game. The Pistons shooting on the night was stellar at 57 percent from the field.

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The Celtics went scoreless for a total of 4 minutes midway through the 4th, and a series of lackluster plays and turnovers saw Detroit creep the lead to 4 points. Then Jrue Holiday happened, who only had 1 point in 26 minutes, JB turned up the defensive clamps and Holiday was the beneficiary of a pair of wide-open threes as Boston clawed back into the game.

Derrick White’s third block came at a crucial point of the game as Boston screeched and scratched back into the lead 118-114. Both teams traded free throws to end it as Boston won by a 6-point margin, the final score 124-118. Boston face a stiff test next game against a tough Eastern conference foe, as they host the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.