More beast than beauty
Celts snap out of it with an ugly victory
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — If any of these Celtics took time for beauty during the just-completed All-Star break, they might consider asking for a refund.
The Celtics, with 10 of their 16 turnovers in the third quarter, had to overcome a significant display of sloppiness in last night’s 104-98 win over Detroit.
It was the Celtics’ first win since returning from the midseason break, and snapped a two-game losing streak.
Isaiah Thomas led the way, this time with 33 points, but for the second game in a row found his ability to move significantly disrupted by the opposing defense.
The Pistons shot themselves in the foot to a mortal degree, missing 19 free throws in their 16-for-35 performance from the line. Andre Drummond, who was hacked by the Celtics with effective results down the stretch, was 1-for-11 from the line.
Jaylen Brown’s rightcorner 3-pointer gave the Celtics a 98-96 lead with 37.9 seconds left, and he had the chance at a four-point play as he was fouled. When the Celtics rookie missed the free throw, teammate Marcus Smart muscled in for the rebound and was fouled in the process. Smart, capitalizing after once again making the game’s biggest hustle play, hit both free throws for a 100-96 lead with 37.3 seconds left.
Marcus Morris, who along with KentaviousCaldwell Pope was a fourthquarter terror, missed from downtown, leading to a 1-for-2 trip to the line by Thomas with free throws. After a Drummond putback off a Caldwell-Pope missed free throw, two more free throws by Thomas iced the game.
Morris missed one last time, and the Celtics escaped with one of their thinnest wins.
“That was probably the worst couple of minutes of the season for us,” Thomas said of that strange third quarter, which the Celtics still somehow won by a 2524 margin. “We kept trying to get into our offense. We were going too fast every possession.”
Indeed, this turned so ugly that Thomas and Smart were stunned by the realization they still had control of the game.
“Coach just kept saying keep your composure,” said Thomas. “There were a lot of plays we wanted back. But we just kept trying to get a shot at the hoop every time. Let’s stop turning the ball over and calm down.”
Said Smart: “I definitely was surprised though that they didn’t capitalize on those plays. . . . We were all surprised. Especially when Drummond got the steal on Amir (Johnson) and missed the dunk and then Amir got it back and he turned it over. We knew it was going to be a long night for us, but we had to win this game.”
That third-quarter sequence was an especially slapstick moment, highlighted by Drummond clanking an open transition dunk off the back of the rim.
There was an even-more frustrating third-quarter sequence, during an 11-0 Detroit run, when the Celtics turned the ball over eight times in 11 possessions.
“We started off bad — six or seven turnovers in a row — and things just weren’t going our way,” said Smart. “But we kept fighting and things started to turn for us.”
Brown, especially hot last night with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting, made it all feel better with his last-minute quick-release 3-pointer.
Thomas, blitzed to distraction in the fourth quarter for the second straight game, this time with eight points after only scoring four in the fourth Friday in Toronto, got the help he needed this time.
“Teams are doing everything to slow me down and get the ball out of my hands, so guys have to step up,” he said. “Smart made huge plays, Jaylen Brown made the 3 in the corner. We have to know that, especially in playoff time teams are going to try to do whatever they can to get the ball out of my hands. The last two minutes they doubled me off the pick-and-roll.”
Said Smart: “We just can’t put everything on Isaiah. Other teams know where we’re trying to go, they know Isaiah is Mr. Fourth Quarter, so they’re going to try and get the ball out of his hands in situations like that.”