– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — The Detroit Pistons came into Beantown with the lucky-numbered, franchise-record winning streak, but, as has borne itself out over the course of a near century, a team’s good fortune is no match for the leprechauns that work their magic — even on the holidays — living inside the home of the Boston Celtics. Those sprites, including the real-life magic makers in green such as Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, made sure history wasn’t made on their floor at their expense in a feast of a pre-Thanksgiving blockbuster.
Brown scored 33 points while White poured in 25 of his 27 in the second half as the Celtics withstood a late rally to down the Pistons 117-114 inside TD Garden to snap Detroit’s 13-game winning streak. The Celtics’ win also prevented the Pistons from clinching a spot in the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup, as Detroit and Orlando will square off on Friday in the Motor City to determine East Group B winner. (Boston has already been eliminated.)
Down by three with under 10 seconds to go, the Pistons were given a lifeline when Cade Cunningham was intentionally fouled at halfcourt by the Celtics Jordan Walsh, an infraction that was initially ruled a non-shooting foul before being ruled a three-shot foul after a discussion amongst the officials. Cunningham, who scored a game-high 42 points, made the first and second free throws, but missed the third as Payton Pritchard grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
Pritchard made his two free throws to provide the final margin, and Walsh’s subsequent steal thwarted a last-second desperation attempt from Detroit.
Before Thanksgiving Thursday, tonight’s game on the eve of it took the form of a Freaky Friday, especially given where these teams were at this time two years ago. Boston, on its way to winning its 18th world championship, was perched on top of the Eastern Conference when it welcomed a Pistons’ team that, after blowing a 21-point lead to the Celtics, tied the NBA record for the longest losing streak at 28 consecutive defeats. White and Brown for the Celtics, and Cunningham and Jalen Duren for the Pistons, were also principals on that post-Christmas night in 2023, and now the latter pair is now the focal point on the team that currently sits atop the conference at 15-3.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor 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 23 pictures in total.
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