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Here's What Stood Out in Celtics' Win vs. Pistons: Undermanned Boston Earns Sixth-Straight, Jayson Tatum Continues To Dazzle
The Boston Celtics might just be the hottest team in the NBA.
Boston continued its red-hot streak Saturday night as it took down the Detroit Pistons 117-108 at Little Caesars Arena. The Celtics extended their league-high win streak with the big win. The Pistons likely won't want to see the Celtics anytime soon after dropping two games against Boston in just four days.
Let's take a deep dive into Boston's impressive Saturday night showdown.
Luke Kornet Leads Way As Celtics and Pistons Battle In First Quarter
The first quarter was anyone's game. The Celtics and Pistons traded blows early and often across the first 12 minutes of action. Both Boston and Detroit entered the showdown shorthanded, but neither let up. The Celtics were without the services of Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Malcolm Brogdon while the Pistons were missing Cade Cunningham.
With more playing time came more opportunities for plenty of players who typically wouldn't see much time. Blake Griffin and Grant Williams entered the starting lineup and both got on the board early for Boston.
Detroit -- who entered the contest with an abysmal 3-10 record -- easily could've rolled over, but kept themselves in the game. Jaden Ivey led the way for the Pistons throughout the quarter.
One surprise early on certainly was the play of backup center Luke Kornet. The big man led the way for Boston with six points in the first quarter, including one vicious slam to help lead the team to a 30-29 lead after one quarter.
Scrappy Pistons Continue To Push And Jump Ahead
Bojan Bogdanovic took over for the Pistons tallying 13 of his team-high 28 points over the second 12 minutes of action. The Celtics and Pistons continued to trade blows throughout the quarter.
Jayson Tatum unsurprisingly led the way for the C's throughout the quarter and poured in nine points to help keep the Celtics in contention.
Marcus Smart also starred in the second quarter while tallying eight points of his own, but did a little of everything else as well.
The Celtics entered halftime starting at a 57-55 deficit but still looked impressive, especially because they were extremely undermanned.
Boston Takes Over Thanks To Exploding Tatum
The Celtics essentially won the game in the third quarter. Boston entered the third quarter facing a two-point deficit but turned things around in the third frame outscoring the Pistons 34-24 to build up an eight-point lead heading into the final quarter.
The big third quarter was thanks in large part to the play of Tatum. The three-time All-Star scorched the Pistons from all over the court and racked up 15 points in the third quarter alone.
Others chipped in -- like an impressive slam from Grant Williams -- but Tatum was the star of the game and showed it when the two teams stepped on the court after halftime.
Boston entered the fourth quarter with an 89-81 lead and had all full control.
Detroit Battles Back But Celtics Slam Door Shut
The Pistons certainly didn't leave the arena quietly. Detroit was undermanned and hadn't had the season they expected to this point, but continued to fight until the last whistle.
Detroit opened the fourth quarter with four straight points to cut the Boston lead to four. Jayson Tatum ended the Detroit hot streak with a basket of his own and set the tone there.
Smart continued to be the Robin to Tatum's Batman and poured in some points of his own, but also led the team with 10 assists and an eye-popping five steals.
Any time it seemed like the Pistons were in striking distance, Tatum would make yet another shot and put any ideas of blowing the lead to rest. The young star continued his red-hot tear to open the season and led the way for Boston with 43 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Tatum finished the game 7-of-15 from three-point range and 14-of-28 overall shooting along with nailing eight of his 10 free throw attempts.
At one point it seemed like the Pistons would win a clear trap game for the surging Celtics, but Boston did what championship-level teams do and found a way to gut out a tough win on the road. Tatum put the team on his back and thrived on the second night of a back-to-back.
Boston ended up winning the contest 117-108 to extend its impressive win streak to a league-high six games. No other team in the NBA has a winning streak of over three games at the moment.
Up Next
The Celtics will take Sunday off and return to action Monday night as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder back home at TD Garden with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. Inside The Celtics will have content related to the game coming out before, during, and after. And follow @BobbyKrivitsky on Twitter for updates and analysis from pregame to post.
Further Reading
Here's Where Celtics' Jayson Tatum Landed On NBA's Latest MVP Ladder
The Top 5 Plays from Wednesday's Celtics-Pistons Game
Nets Not Hiring Ime Udoka, Name Jacque Vaughn Head Coach
Here's Where Marcus Smart Lands On NBA's First DPOY Ladder of 2022-23 Season
