As Jayson Tatum sits, Celtics' other stars shine in win over Pistons

Zack Cox, Boston Herald on Dec 4, 2024

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BOSTON — Playing without Jayson Tatum for the first time since April, the Celtics held off a scrappy Detroit Pistons squad Wednesday night at TD Garden.

Boston led by as many as 20 points, survived a fourth-quarter scare and then pulled away late to win, 130-120, while Tatum and fellow starter Jrue Holiday sat out with minor knee injuries.

Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 28 points and a season-high nine assists, including a stellar 23-point first half. Kristaps Porzingis was the most productive he’d been since his return from leg surgery, finishing with 28 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

Sam Hauser, after sitting out Monday’s win over Miami for personal reasons, made his second start of the season and scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Payton Pritchard scored 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter to help the Celtics deny Detroit’s comeback bid.

Porzingis made his presence felt early with a block at the rim, a lob dunk from Brown, an assist on an Al Horford 3-pointer, a drawn foul and a made 3, all in the first four minutes.

The Celtics quickly built a double-digit lead during that opening flurry, which included 3-pointers from all five Boston starters. Hauser’s came off a stolen inbounds pass, one of eight first-quarter turnovers by Detroit.

Brown also found consistent success attacking the Pistons on drives. He converted a pair of and-1 layups and threw down a vicious dunk over Isaiah Stewart (which he celebrated with a throat-slash gesture that could earn him a fine from the NBA) as part of a 16-point first quarter. Brown played the entire first — Tatum’s role in most games this season — and got to the foul line five times (5 for 8).

Down multiple starters for the third straight game, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla again gave early minutes to two-way player Drew Peterson, who was part of Boston’s first round of subs. Xavier Tillman and Jordan Walsh also saw the floor in the opening quarter along with rotation mainstays Pritchard and Luke Kornet.

The Celtics led 23-7 after five minutes and 39-24 at the end of one quarter. The Pistons hung around thanks to hot shooting from Cade Cunningham and some pop from their bench (nine first-half points apiece from Malik Beasley and Marcus Sasser), cutting Boston’s edge to 10 points midway through the second quarter.

But the Celtics responded with a scoring blitz sparked by a Horford block on Tobias Harris. Porzingis hit a 3 on the ensuing possession, followed by a Derrick White steal, another foul-drawing Brown layup in transition and a corner 3 from Horford off a nifty pass from Brown.

A White 3 one minute later made it 66-47 Celtics. That play also featured some extracurriculars under the basket, with Stewart, surely miffed over the earlier celebration, shoving Brown as the two squared off for a rebound.

Porzingis also took issue with an enthusiastic box-out by Stewart on the final shot of the first half. The two later were hit with matching technical fouls after tangling under the basket during the fourth quarter.

The Pistons got to within 10 midway through the third, but the Celtics again stiff-armed their comeback bid. This time, it was Hauser creating the separation by scoring through contact beneath the basket and then drilling two 3s in a 66-second span.

A torrid start to the fourth quarter from Beasley helped cut Detroit’s deficit to six, but it couldn’t close the gap. A Porzingis alley-oop stretched the lead back to double digits at 117-107, and Brown followed with a slam of his own off a White offensive rebound.

Pritchard, quiet for much of the night, leaped to corral the loose ball after a Porzingis miss and buried a 3-pointer to put Boston up 14. Then, he hit another with less than a minute remaining after the Pistons had cut it to five.

Pritchard played the entire fourth quarter for the third time in the last four games.

Kornet was a quiet second-half standout with a block, two steals, two offensive rebounds and five points over the final two quarters.

The Celtics will host the Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies this Friday and Saturday before entering a stretch that, thanks to their early elimination from the NBA Cup, features just two games over the next 11 days.