NBA frontrunner Detroit Pistons absorbed its third defeat so far this season, with Boston Celtics clinching a gritty 117-114 victory in a showdown between two Eastern Conference powerhouses on Wednesday.
With 15 wins under their belts, the Pistons have emphatically captured the league’s attention, as the team recently secured its 13th consecutive victory following a 122-117 triumph over the Indiana Pacers, tying their franchise records in the 1990 and 2004 eras.
The Celtics, on the other hand, relied on their championship pedigree to get their 10th victory in 18 games.
Boston Celtics
Escaping a Pistons team on a winning streak proved difficult for the Celtics, as they yielded the first quarter to Detroit, 24-30.
It was in the second canto that Boston began to steal away the initiative by collecting 33 markers in this quarter alone against Detroit’s 28 to chip away the four-point deficit to just one, 57-58.
The third quarter marked a turning point in the game, with the Celtics collecting another 29 points anchored on a 50% shooting rate in the same period.
With Boston still reeling from the loss of Jayson Tatum to injuries, Jaylen Brown held the fort with 33 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Payton Pritchard with his season-high 27-point performance.
Though currently not at their best form, league statistics show that the Celtics rank 4th in field goals attempted per game, reflecting the team’s determination to score at every chance they get.
Additionally, the Celtics are the fifth-best team in three-point field goals made at 15.3 per game.
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Detroit Pistons
While far from panic mode, individual lapses cost the Pistons a chance not just to tie the score, but to potentially win the game.
Cade Cunningham, who is currently the league’s best fourth-quarter scorer, missed his third and last free throw after being fouled with 4.4 seconds left in the match, 115-114 Boston lead.
After Boston secured the rebound, Pritchard’s last two freebies in the last 2.4 seconds essentially sealed the win for the Celtics as the first team to beat the Pistons in 13 games.
A three-pointer could have tied the game, but a bad pass from Jalen Durden denied the Pistons a chance, yielding the win to the eight-seed Celtics.
Cunningham finished the game with a remarkable 42-point production.
The loss prevented the Pistons from surpassing the 13 straight wins record set by the 1989-90 and 2003-04 squads, which both won NBA titles.
The Pistons are renowned in both championship runs as the “bad boys” of the NBA, due to their defensive mentality, on-court roughness and mastery over powerhouse teams like Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the 90s and Detroit’s so-called upset Finals victory over the superteam Los Angeles Lakers that featured Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004.
For a team that has not seen the NBA playoffs since 2019, the Pistons are on pace for a winning season based on their present performance.
NBA data shows that the Pistons are second overall in the league behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder, 6th in field goals made at 43.4, third in grabbing blocks and rebounds per game at 6.1 and 46.4, respectively, and fourth overall in steals at 9.9 per game.
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