Keys to the Game: Celtics 119, Pistons 94

Key Moment

The Hospital Celtics took it to the Detroit Pistons during the third quarter of Monday’s matchup at TD Garden to turn a competitive game into a runaway win.

Boston, which played without three of its top six players for the second time in as many nights, led by 11 points after the first seven minutes of the third before turning on the jets and leaving the Pistons in the dust. The C’s rattled off a 19-4 over the final 4:47 of the quarter to blow that lead open to 26 points, leaving no doubt about the eventual result of this game.

Jaylen Brown was at the center of the run to not only push the Celtics into a comfort zone, but also to rev up the TD Garden crowd. That’s because he finished the quarter by scoring seven unanswered points at the rim – first off an and-one floater, and then by slamming home consecutive dunks at the rim.

Brown accounted for 11 of Boston’s 19 points during the 19-4 run. Kristaps Porzingis and Svi Mykhailiuk each drilled a triple, and Xavier Tillman Sr. dropped in a layup off a dish from Payton Pritchard to round out the scoring.

Boston’s lead eventually swelled to as many as 29 points as it coasted to a 119-94 triumph to mark its sixth straight victory.

Key Player

Payton Pritchard took full advantage of a spot start Monday night against the Detroit Pistons. Not only did he rack up his second-highest scoring total of the season, but he also notched another impressive performance in the assist column.

Pritchard finished the contest with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting to fall just five points shy of tying his season high. He canned five of his nine attempts from distance and also sank both of his free throw attempts on the night.

Moving over to the assist category, Pritchard dished out seven helpers to finish second in the game behind Derrick White’s 10. This marks the second consecutive game during which Pritchard has dished out at least seven assists, as he notched 13 a night ago against the Wizards.

Pritchard also finished second in the game in the plus/minus category. Boston outscored Detroit by 19 points during his 38 minutes of action.

Box Score Nuggets

Four Celtics scored at least 20 points: Jaylen Brown with 31, Payton Pritchard with 23, Derrick White with 22, and Kristaps Porzingis with 20.
Boston made 22 shots from long distance, all while limiting Detroit to just nine such makes.
The C’s held the Pistons to 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 31 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Boston committed just 11 turnovers.
Derrick White logged his first career triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Detroit made as many free throws (13) as Boston attempted.
Jaden Ivey led Detroit with 21 points.
White and Luke Kornet tied for the game high in rebounds with 10 apiece.
The Celtics totaled 30 assists as a team.

Quote of the Night

“I know, I know. I’m not very subtle.”

– Luke Kornet after Derrick White caught him trying to dump water over White’s head during White’s walk-off interview on NBC Sports Boston