FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Tuesday night’s 108-105 loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden
COMEBACK COMES UP SHORT – Dwane Casey asked a more resolute disposition to start from his team after being disappointed in the way they came out in Saturday’s loss to Boston at home. And he got it. But Boston ratcheted up its intensity at halftime and looked like it would put the cold-shooting Pistons away. The Pistons trailed by 14 in the third quarter and by 12 early in the fourth when they went on a 16-5 run to pull within one with a little more than four minutes left. But Boston scored on its next three possessions and the Pistons misfired on both of their trips to fall behind by seven a minute later. They got a triple from Reggie Bullock and a Blake Griffin – who led the Pistons with 24 points and 15 rebounds – driving layup to again come within two, but Boston appeared to put the game away on a Jaylen Brown triple with 1:06 to play, going ahead by seven. Another Griffin basket and another Bullock triple, that one with 24.7 seconds left, cut the lead to two again. Two Marcus Morris free throws bumped it back to four, then Ish Smith’s triple made it a one-point game with 11.2 seconds left. After two Celtics free throws, a costly turnover occurred when Smith and Blake Griffin crossed signals on the inbounds pass and Boston wound up gaining possession. The Pistons, who led by two at halftime, scored just once in their first 12 third-quarter possessions as Boston inched ahead. Then Kyrie Irving hit three consecutive 3-point baskets late in the quarter for the game’s first double-digits lead.The Pistons were outscored 25-13 in the quarter, shot just 4 of 17 and missed all six of their 3-point attempts while committing five turnovers. The Pistons shot 42 percent for the game and just 8 of 30 from the 3-point arc, though they hit on 5 of their last 9. Their starters were 2 of 18 before Bullock hit three triples late.
HAPPY HOMECOMING – Bruce Brown had his biggest role yet in his hometown, coming into the game in the first quarter as he and Glenn Robinson III filled the void of the injured Luke Kennard and the slumping Langston Galloway in getting wing minutes off of the bench. The collective play of the wings has been the most pressing issue for the Pistons through the first six games. Kennard had his best moments before suffering a separated shoulder in last week’s win over Cleveland, knocking him out for a minimum of two weeks but likely another week or two beyond that. Reggie Bullock entered Tuesday’s game shooting 4 of 20 from the 3-point arc and struggled again, missing his first five shots overall before the three consecutive late triples. He finished with 16 points. Galloway shot 3 of 20 over the first five games from the 3-point line. Robinson had played just 52 minutes in the first five games. He scored just one point in 11 minutes against Boston, grabbing three rebounds and missing his only shot. Brown scored 10 points in 13 minutes off of the bench. His cutting ability produced two layups for him in the first half and he also blocked a layup from Boston’s athletic Jaylen Brown. A nice catch in traffic and tough finish gave him another second-half basket and he hustled after Andre Drummond to tip in his missed layup off of a fourth-quarter turnover.
BENCH BRIGADE – For the second straight game, Boston’s bench carried the Celtics to an early lead. It wasn’t nearly as pronounced this time around – the Pistons fell 26 points down in their Saturday home loss in the second quarter but never trailed by more than eight points in the first half of the rematch – but it was again a backup center, this time Aron Baynes, who combined with another ex-Piston, Marcus Morris, to score 16 points off the bench in the first quarter. Baynes didn’t play at Little Caesars Arena due to a hamstring injury as Daniel Theis, who’d been out with a foot injury, replaced him and scored 17 points, 14 in the first half. Theis aggravated the injury and sat out the rematch, but Baynes scored five points in his first minute and nine in seven first-half minutes. Baynes didn’t score after the first quarter, finishing with nine points and five rebounds. Morris had 15 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes. The Pistons got better production off of their bench this time around, led b Ish Smith’s13 points.