This clash against the Pistons was a trap game for the Celtics, who were certainly surfing on an impressive series of nine consecutive victories. In “back-to-back”, without Marcus Smart or Robert Williams, Ime Udoka’s men ended up giving up their arms in front of their opponents, who nevertheless remained on eight defeats in a row.
A surprise for many, given the trajectories of each team since the beginning of February. Especially since the C’s had just crushed the Sixers on Tuesday night. But the reality of the next day is often different from that of the day before and the Massachusetts franchise had the bitter experience of this Wednesday.
Worse: Boston won’t be able to vent its frustration for at least a week, since All-Star Weekend will give Jaylen Brown’s teammates a (well-deserved) eight-day break.
” It inevitably leaves a bitter taste in our mouths.“, declared the All-Star fullback/winger, about this loss against Detroit. ” It was clearly a match where we should have found a way to win. But the Pistons played fantastically, we didn’t think we’d be surprised and they have to be given credit. They came to play and they made big shots in the money-time, although we also gave them some good shots. It was truly the most deserving team.“
Building from this winning streak
Same story with Ime Udoka, who regretted having seen his players waste a new lead in the last quarter this season (they led 106-98 with four and a half minutes remaining, editor’s note). Still, he wanted to be positive, despite this surprising collapse against one of the dunces of his conference.
” It will definitely leave a bitter taste in our mouths. “explained the coach. ” In reality, we failed to replicate what we did well during our winning streak. Both offensively and defensively. We lacked precision. But, after the match, I also congratulated the players for what they had achieved. It would have been great to end on a high note, but it’s over. We will now rest physically and mentally, while thinking about what awaits us in the future. Because great things await us.“
Like Jaylen Brown, Al Horford rather preferred to retain the good performance of the Pistons, led by Cade Cunningham, Jerami Grant, Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart, rather than being alarmed by that of the C’s, still installed in the Top 6 de l’Est (34 wins – 26 losses) thanks to their usually stifling defense (104.9 points conceded on 100 possessions, the 2nd most effective in the league).
” They held the shock all evening concluded the Dominican veteran. ” We got ahead, but they came back. About eight minutes from the end, we thought that if we managed to pull out a gap, we would be in a good position to win. And we did. Except that we have not been able to conclude. They scored tricky shots, they played hard and they fought. So you have to give them credit.“
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jayson Tatum | 55 | 36.0 | 43.3 | 32.9 | 84.5 | 1.2 | 7.2 | 8.5 | 4.1 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 25.8 |
| Jaylen Brown | 45 | 34.2 | 45.7 | 35.0 | 77.3 | 0.8 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 23.6 |
| Dennis Schroder | 49 | 29.2 | 44.0 | 34.9 | 84.8 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 14.4 |
| Derrick White | 3 | 28.3 | 40.0 | 25.0 | 87.5 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 13.3 |
| Marcus Smart | 50 | 32.7 | 41.1 | 31.1 | 78.3 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 11.7 |
| Robert Williams | 47 | 30.0 | 73.2 | 0.0 | 69.3 | 3.9 | 5.8 | 9.7 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 10.0 |
| Al Horford | 50 | 28.2 | 43.6 | 30.2 | 84.4 | 1.6 | 6.0 | 7.5 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 9.9 |
| Josh Richardson | 44 | 24.7 | 44.3 | 39.7 | 85.9 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 9.7 |
| Grant Williams | 54 | 22.9 | 48.7 | 44.1 | 89.6 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 7.3 |
| Daniel Theis | 1 | 19.8 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Payton Pritchard | 48 | 12.3 | 37.6 | 36.6 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 4.7 |
| Romeo Langford | 44 | 16.6 | 42.9 | 34.9 | 58.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 4.7 |
| Jabari Parker | 12 | 9.4 | 47.4 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| Enes Freedom | 35 | 11.8 | 52.6 | 40.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 3.7 |
| Aaron Nesmith | 40 | 10.5 | 37.4 | 23.0 | 84.2 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 3.5 |
| Joe Johnson | 1 | 1.9 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| justin jackson | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 11 | 4.9 | 36.8 | 36.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.9 |
| Brodric Thomas | 8 | 4.9 | 27.3 | 14.3 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 18 | 5.3 | 18.5 | 16.7 | 66.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Bruno Fernando | 20 | 2.9 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 |
| Luke Kornet | 1 | 8.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| cj miles | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
