A second consecutive loss to Detroit would’ve been disastrous after the Friday collapse. That’s almost what happened due to Boston’s defensive issues, but the Jays had other plans and forced a 122-120 victory.
Jaylen Brown led all scorers with 31 points—not many other stats, but this was some of the most accurate shooting of his career (81.2%), so who cares. Jayson Tatum, while not shooting as efficiently, brought his playmaking to bear to contribute 12 assists alongside 24 points, 8 boards and 2 blocks. Four additional Celtics reached double figures in the shootout: Marcus Smart (17-3-9), Daniel Theis (15-4-1 and a steal), Tristan Thompson (12-11-1) and Semi Ojeleye (just 11 and a board, but off three triples). It’s a bit distressing that they needed this many points to repel a basement-dwelling Pistons team, but for now all the team can do is move on and hopefully learn.
Let’s go through it. Abby’s opening statement was not promising:
If you like offense, check out the #Celtics and #Pistons right now @NBCSBoston!
— Abby Chin (@tvabby) January 3, 2021
It’s true, the Celtics offense was crisp. Theis was canning long jumpers:
Count that 3️⃣ from Theis pic.twitter.com/wetIMOf9mv
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 3, 2021
But they were letting Jerami Grant and Blake Griffin score almost at will (understandable) as well as the likes of Mason Plumlee, Josh Jackson and Derrick Rose’s corpse (not understandable).
A lineup with two bigs should not be bleeding points in the paint. There’s no defensive resistance whatsoever
— Cousin Grizz (@AndrewDoxy) January 3, 2021
Pistons have opened the game shooting 81(!) percent (10-of-12). No sign of defense from the C's.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/JonesyBOS/status/1345828537362755587?s=20
In the midst of all this, Jaylen’s Next Leap continues unabated:
Translation: Jaylen Brown is an All-Star pic.twitter.com/pFu0gn0qWX
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 3, 2021
Only Brown and Teague have more so far this season. Both currently have 12 https://t.co/Cu4leRe6Pe
— Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA) January 3, 2021
End of 1: Boston 31, Detroit 33 pic.twitter.com/URYACSUcVx
— Celtics Stats (@celtics_stats) January 3, 2021
Payton Pritchard contributed significantly to the Q2 turnaround with strong effort on both ends of the floor:
The Rookie 👑#Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/Ej6euOi7Sn
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 3, 2021
Unsurprisingly, the definitive difference-makers were the Jays.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 3, 2021
Nice drive and dish from Jayson Tatum to Robert Williams here: pic.twitter.com/RrJhpflVBW
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) January 3, 2021
buckets pic.twitter.com/586rWxOt0j
— smarfwater™ (@smarfwater) January 3, 2021
Celtics should just keep feeding Jaylen Brown until further notice with this run he's on.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 3, 2021
There were still blooper-reel-level mistakes happening:
Brad Stevens reaction to this… ummm… ill-advised outlet pass pic.twitter.com/ApY5qRmDV8
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 3, 2021
But more good shit:
Jaylen's got so many new tricks this year. pic.twitter.com/22gLjyGqg6
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 3, 2021
Boston are 23-for-39 right now. That’s a huge offensive improvement from Friday
— Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA) January 3, 2021
At the half 🕒
Halftime Live is on now 📱: https://t.co/uSr28gFzzp pic.twitter.com/r631d9UKiA
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 3, 2021
Things stayed close in Q3, with Boston barely maintaining a lead, mostly due to—well, wouldn’t ya know it, Jaylen Brown!
Another great hesi from Jaylen.
Griffin comes to stop the ball on the break as Brown arrives at the arc. Brown takes a beat, straightens up enough for Griffin to settle, and then blows by for the reverse layup in transition.
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 3, 2021
Jaylen Brown has been the Celtics best player this season so far. Shows up every night and just balls out playing as hard as possible. Love watching him play
— Green Machine (@Greenmachine17_) January 3, 2021
As hard a time as Theis had defensively paired with Thompson, they both stayed making strong offensive contributions. Stevens ran plays for for one or both of them on consecutive possessions and the Pistons defense simply couldn’t figure it out:
Nice Theis !! pic.twitter.com/ALDM1vjIU8
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 3, 2021
Up & Over pic.twitter.com/dArFwh3ZxE
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 3, 2021
Daniel Theis with the follow 🔥#Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/EQz1sg7Vur
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 3, 2021
But those defensive woes meant Detroit was always barking at Boston’s heels. It was clear some change had to be made, in either approach or effort (ideally both).
End of the 3rd#Celtics: 91#Pistons: 88
TUNE IN NOW📱:https://t.co/uSr28gFzzp
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 3, 2021
Good thing Tatum had 6+ assists:
Since the start of last season, the Celtics are 10-3 when Tatum has 6+ assists (including postseason)
— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) January 3, 2021
And Ojeleye, not a factor for much of the contest, suddenly canned three consecutive triples:
9 points for Semi Ojeleye in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 3, 2021
Pistons daring Ojeleye to shoot, and he's pretty much saying, "Bet."
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) January 3, 2021
But the Cs’ defensive woes and Pistons’ concurrent hot shooting meant Boston couldn’t nail down a definitive lead.
Pistons still shooting 50% from three.
Celtics right up there at 48%.
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 3, 2021
Further complications:
Looked like an ankle injury. https://t.co/GaxTseyQgL
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 3, 2021
How about that ball movement 👏 pic.twitter.com/PScfetsd99
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 3, 2021
Somehow this game was tied, and everyone on Celtics Twitter was miserable:
https://twitter.com/MsSamanthaMay/status/1345854811934228482?s=20
Whats cool about Theis and Thompson together is how much they turn the ball over and then cant get back in transition
— Skull Berg (@designer_smarf) January 3, 2021
love leaving shooters open and still not being able to rebound
— david (@whaamncheese) January 3, 2021
In the end, it came down to the Pistons doing exactly what they should’ve done to defend against the Celtics, and Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum beating them anyway.
Pistons are going to pack the paint so the C's should to Jaylen and count on Mr. Midrange and hope the Pistons overreact and he can find someone for an easy shot
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 3, 2021
Jaylen Brown with a monster 3 for C's. He's got a game-high 28 points on 12/15 FG.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 3, 2021
TATUM!! And a block at the other end!!
— Andrew (@andrevvdef) January 3, 2021
Jayson Tatum, for the win. pic.twitter.com/qczwEOzINw
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) January 3, 2021
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