Ford Keys to the Game: Celtics at Pistons

Celtics 105, Pistons 100

Game Highlights

Photo of the Game

Rajon Rondo flies through the air for a slam over Jonas Jerebko of the Pistons.
Allen Einstein/Getty Images

By Marc D'Amico
Celtics.com

Key Moment

The Celtics briefly held onto an eight-point lead in the third quarter, but the Pistons fought back to keep this one close throughout. While Boston's reserves ate up the final minutes of the third, Detroit actually battled all the way back to take a three-point lead into the final period, at 75-72.

At that point, it seemed like the issue Boston would have on this night would be its bench play. Typically, Doc Rivers likes to use his bench to close out the third quarter and open up the fourth. Despite the struggles his reserves showed in the final minutes of the third, he stuck with them, and it wound up paying off.

Glen Davis, who had been struggling with his shot all night long, opened up the scoring in the final quarter with a free throw, and that seemed to help him get out of his shooting rut. But before he could go to work again on offense, Nate Robinson stepped in to drain a deep 3-pointer from 27 feet to bring Boston to within 77-76. Davis then went on to score five straight points for Boston to put them back on top.

But the biggest shots of the night came from the smallest player on the court. Just more than a minute after Davis' five-point run, Robinson drilled back-to-back threes for he Celtics that gave them their largest lead of the game at that point, an 89-81 advantage. Those shots put Boston in prime position to win this game, and that's exactly what they did by holding on down the stretch.

Key Box Score Line

Nate Robinson, who was acquired by the Celtics to be a spark off the bench, was just that tonight. He scored nine points in the fourth quarter and 14 in the game. Most impressive of all is that he gave this performance in only 15 minutes of playing time. That type of game is exactly what the doctor, er Doc -- and Danny Ainge -- ordered.

Box Score Nuggets

• Paul Pierce scored nine points in his first game back after a three-game absence.
• Kevin Garnett was one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine boards
• Boston racked up 26 assists while committing only 12 turnovers.
• Four of the five starters on each team scored in double figures.
• Kendrick Perkins did not play due to the flu.
• Rasheed Wallace started at center for Boston and finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
• The teams shot nearly identical from the field: 35-of-76 for Boston, 37-of-79 for Detroit.
• Boston finished with 11 steals on the night.
• Rajon Rondo recorded another double-double, finishing with 15 points and 11 assists.
• Only one Celtic, Shelden Williams, at -2, finished with a negative plus/minus rating.
• All 12 Celtics that played at least one minute scored. Brian Scalabrine played less than a minute and finished with zero points.
• Jonas Jerebko scored 16 points to go along with 10 boards for the Pistons.
• The Celtics grabbed only 33 rebounds in the game.
• Detroit shot only 3-of-20 from downtown, while the C's made nine of their 18 3-pointers.

Quote of the Night

Ray Allen on the Celtics' bench play: "This was big for us. Nate came in and played big for us, Glen (Davis) gave us energy, Shelden (Williams) gave us energy. It gave Doc (Rivers) the option to keep us on the bench a little bit. At the four or five-minute mark, it seemed like they still could have finished the game out."