After a lackluster outing in New York, Boston was in search of a bounce again within the Motor Metropolis. Jaylen Brown impressed with 41 factors (5-of-9 from 3, 12-of-15 from the road), six rebounds, and 4 assists, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard chipped in 15 and 21 every, however the Celtics misplaced to the Pistons 119-113.
As CelticsBlog’s Mark Aboyoun famous earlier than the tip, it’s Hugo Gonzalez time. The 19-year-old rookie had an electrical debut at Madison Sq. Backyard and he and his power have been injected into the beginning lineup (changing Sam Hauser) in opposition to the Pistons. Gonzalez didn’t disappoint. The field rating gained’t precisely impress (no factors with two steals and a block), however he matched minutes with MVP candidate Cade Cunningham and pestered him at any time when they went head-to-head.
Within the loss to the Knicks, Joe Mazzulla recognized 4 areas of controllables: offensive and defensive rebounding and the turnover differential.
“It’s holding them accountable to the issues that they’ll management. That’s a excessive, excessive customary. To me, you’ll be able to’t budge on that,” Mazzulla mentioned. “And like I mentioned, they’re going to be errors and that’s OK, however they gotta be errors of aggression and errors of alternative, not errors of not enjoying onerous.”
Mazzulla mentioned that the staff performed twelve then twenty-four good minutes within the first two video games. A powerful push within the first quarter in opposition to to the Pistons led to a 11-point lead. They compelled 5 turnovers for six factors and held Detroit to 33% taking pictures from the sector. The Celtics additionally gained the fourth 32-25, however nonetheless haven’t performed an entire 48 of their first 0-3 begin since 2013-2014.
Sadly, rebounding stays the most important space for enchancment. Jalen Duren alone owned the Celtics with seven offensive boards to contribute to Detroit’s 18 for 30 second likelihood factors. Fouls and subsequent free throws have been a difficulty, too. Detroit ballooned their 2-point halftime result in 13 with sixteen journeys to the charity stripe within the third quarter. On the night time, the Pistons had a 36-24 edge.
Boston continues to be sustaining their identification as a three-point taking pictures staff regardless of the departures of lots of its shooters. They took 43 and 44 pictures from behind the arc in opposition to the Sixers and Knicks respectively and went 15-of-45 in Detroit.
The Celtics will once more search for their first win of the season in New Orleans tomorrow night time at 8 pm EST.
