The Pistons looked on the verge of being run out of the new Garden at any number of junctures – when they allowed Boston 33 points on 61 percent shooting in the first quarter, or when they committed six turnovers and shot 1 of 7 from the 3-point line in falling 13 points down late in the third quarter, for two big ones – but they kept scrapping and took the lead with under six minutes left, their first of the game. They led by six at 88-82 on a Reggie Jackson jump shot with 4:07 to play and went ahead for good on a Jackson triple. Isaiah Thomas, who finished with 22 points and 10 assists, was 1 of 15 when he made five straight shots and scored 15 straight Celtics points, six on free throws.The Pistons had a number of calls go against them in the last two minutes, including two possession calls reversed upon review, a shaky foul on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to give Thomas three free throws and a loose ball foul on Marcus Morris after Thomas made the last of those free throws. But they took a four-point lead on two Aron Baynes foul shots with 30 seconds left and held on for a huge road win over one of the teams that began the night ahead of them in the standings. The Celtics, after hitting 14 of 23 shots in the first quarter, finished at just 37.4 percent, hitting only 20 of their last 58 shots.
Pistons rookie Stanley Johnson continues to increase his imprint on games, becoming an invaluable member of a second unit that’s displaying ever-improving chemistry. Johnson had a particularly strong first half against Boston, doing good work defensively, rebounding, running the floor and showing his versatility in the half-court offense. He and Aron Baynes have developed a sense for each other’s movements, each assisting the other for first-half baskets at the rim. Johnson finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and the measure of faith that Stan Van Gundy has gained in him was revealed when he had him in the game down the stretch with the Pistons going small to counter Boston’s small lineup. His triple with 58 seconds left to put the Pistons ahead by four points might have been the biggest shot of the game.
The Pistons have been much better on the road this season – but they might have to be even better over the season’s final 46 games to crack the playoff field. The 7-11 road record the Pistons took into Wednesday’s game at Boston was the worst road record of any of the eight teams that held playoff spots as of that time. Boston owns the best road record in the East at 10-6, but the Celtics were the only one of the top eight in the East without a winning home record at 9-9 – now 9-10. The Pistons best road wins have come at Atlanta, Miami and Chicago. With the win at Boston, they’re now 4-2 in road games against the seven teams that started Wednesday’s games ahead of them in the East standings with their losses coming at Atlanta AND Indiana. The Pistons still have two road games to play at Cleveland and one each at Chicago, Miami, Indiana and Boston. They go to Toronto only once this season and still have that game to play. They went 1-1 in their two road games at Atlanta.
