Boston Celtics: 3 studs from bounce back win vs Pistons in Detroit

The Boston Celtics won against the Detroit Pistons 111-99 on Monday night at Little Caesars Arena. The Celtics were coming off a loss against the Phoenix Suns 106-94 on Friday night.

The Celtics were missing a few pieces to the team on Monday night. Jaylen Brown missed the game due to a non-COVID Illness and Marcus Smart missed his 6th straight game with a right ankle injury. Also, Luke Kornet missed this game due to a left knee injury that he suffered in the loss against the Suns on Friday night.

Sam Hauser made his first career start at Shooting guard and he was decent on the boards with six rebounds and only three points. Due to Kornet being out, Blake Griffin also got increased minutes with 13 on the floor but didn’t capitalize it because he had zero points in the game.

The Celtics now have a 3-0 record in the season series and have won 6 out of their last 7 games against the Pistons dating back to last season where they had the 3-1 season series.

Here are the C’s three stars of the game…

1. Jayson Tatum goes off for the Boston Celtics

Jayson Tatum lead the Celtics with 34 points in the game and also achieved a double-double when he grabbed 11 rebounds. Tatum also had 6 assists in the game and blocked one shot.

Tatum had many great dishes to his teammates in this game, including this one to Derrick White (more on him later).

This is Tatum’s first double-double in February after three straight double-doubles in the last three games in January with 30+ points and 10+ rebounds.

Tatum turned on the jets in the 3rd quarter when he scored 18 points in the quarter which included three three-pointers.

Tatum also passed Shaquille O’Neal for 7th most points before age 25 with 9,218 points in his career. Tatum’s 25th birthday is under a month away on March 3rd. Ahead of him is the Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo who scored 9,427 points before his 25th birthday on December 6th, 2019 and Devin Booker with 9,481 points before his 25th birthday on October 30th, 2021. Tatum would need 263 points in the next nine games before his birthday to pass Booker, which would be 29.2 points per game. Tatum’s current season rating is 30.9 ppg, so it is very possible to reach those marks.

2. Robert Williams III impressed on the boards

Robert Williams III lead the Celtics in rebounds with 15 and also scored 15 points for the double-double. Williams’s 15 rebounds tied his season-high which he also achieved on the December 27th win against the Houston Rockets. Williams also had 2 assists and 1 block, and had the Celtics only two steals on the night.

Robert Williams had a few great plays in the win, including this flush from a Jayson Tatum alley-oop.

This is Williams first double-double since the overtime win against the Golden State Warriors on January 19th when he had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

3. Derrick White stepped up in Brown’s absence

Derrick White scored 23 points, and led the C’s in assists with 7 dishes. White also grabbed 7 rebounds in the game.

White had this great alley-oop pass to Robert Williams to start the game for the C’s.

The various absences the C’s have had recently, White has stepped up his play with seven straight games scoring double-figures and helping the Celtics win key games against the Lakers and Nets. White also had 5-plus boards in the last four games.

The Celtics will head back to TD Garden for the next three games against the Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies, with all games on national television with ESPN/ABC.