– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
BOSTON — While tonight turned into one of rest for Jayson Tatum, his absence allowed Jaylen Brown to get a jump on the award that was just bestowed on the former — and the latter more than took advantage of the opportunity of being the leading man in another Celtics win.
Brown scored 28 points with nine assists and six rebounds, stepping into a point forward role seamlessly as the Celtics opened up a huge lead before hanging on to defeat the Detroit Pistons 130-120 inside TD Garden on Wednesday evening. Kristaps Porzingis chipped in with 26 points and nine rebounds in his return to the stating lineup after missing the game Monday due to injury management.
As has been the case the past few games, the Celtics were without multiple starters tonight as Jrue Holiday and Tatum sat out managing knee tendonitis, with the latter doing so not long after being named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month for October/November. Brown didn’t take long in shouldering the scoring load, scoring 16 first-quarter points while playing all 12 minutes as Boston opened up a 15-point lead at the end of the frame. He had a hand in eight of the 13 shots the Celtics made, as he dished out three assists also.
Despite Detroit shooting 53 percent form the field and making 10 of its 17 three-pointers in the first half, Boston held a 14-point lead at intermission, 72-58, due to its 57 percent shooting overall and making 11 threes.
Boston’s lead ballooned to 20 early in the fourth before Detroit made a furious rally to cut the deficit to five with just under a minute remaining. Detroit hit four straight 3-pointers to come within eight points, 109-101, and Brown, who sat out the first four minutes of fourth quarter up until that point and appeared to be done for the evening when the lead was at 20, was reinserted into the lineup by Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. Tobias Harris’ long-ball with 59.9 seconds remaining shaved the Celtics’ lead to 125-120, but Payton Pritchard, who finished with 19 points, made a three on the next possession to ice the game.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 27 points, while also amassing 14 assists and nine rebounds. Harris also scored 27 points and Malik Beasley had 23 off the bench.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 40 pictures in total.
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
