Despite missing four players, including two starters, the Boston Celtics turned in what may have been their best defense of the season in a 108-89 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.
Boston coach Joe Mazzella would undoubtedly like to see a similar effort when the Celtics face the visiting Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
The Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis (injury management), Jrue Holiday (left knee), Al Horford (toe sprain) and Sam Hauser (personal reasons), but held Miami to 35.6% shooting on the field (31 of 87).
It was the first time this season that the Celtics held an opponent to less than 90 points and also the first time that Boston’s opponent shot less than 40 percent.
Porzingis and Horford should return to action Wednesday, while Holiday and Jayson Tatum (right knee) are listed as questionable.
Luke Kornet started at center and led the Celtics’ defensive effort by tying a career high with six blocked shots.
“When he plays with that level of intensity on both ends, it makes our team different,” Mazzella said. “I think his two biggest strengths are his physicality and rim protection when he’s at his best, and then his testing against different types. I thought we saw both of those during the game, and he’s going to have to continue to do that. But when he’s playing at a high level, we’re a different team, and we can go for things different.”
Boston’s Payton Pritchard bolstered his early season NBA Sixth Man of the Year claim by making 5 of 3 3-point attempts and scoring 25 points against the Heat. Pritchard has come off the bench to score at least 20 points in each of the team’s last four games.
Despite a 3-1 record in NBA Cup play, the Celtics were eliminated from the event following Tuesday’s results.
The Pistons were also eliminated from the NBA Cup after losing 128-107 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Cade Cunningham scored a game-high 23 points for Detroit, which finished 3-1 in team play.
“This was the first important game of my (NBA) career, of our many careers,” Cunningham said. “Now we’re trying to get into the playoffs and feel that again.”
Tobias Harris (16 points), Tim Hardaway (15) and Jalen Duren (11) also scored in double figures for the Pistons, who gave up 78 points in the first half and trailed by 19 at halftime.
“It was a great opportunity and experience for our guys,” Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff said. “The message to our guys is, for a lot of us in the NBA, this is the biggest game we’ve ever had, right? And we’re playing against a champion team. Guys who’ve been through fire before, understand what it takes to get to that next level. The NBA doesn’t let you skip steps.
“All the guys in that (Milwaukee) locker room that won championships or had playoff success, at some point as a team they didn’t reach their goals, and they learned from it, they got better from it. And that’s what happened as a team. We’ve got to learn from it, see how it was.
The Pistons have lost their last two games and six of their last eight. The Celtics have won eight of their last nine games and five in a row at home.
–Field Level Media