Grant leads way as Pistons beat Celtics for first win
Jerami Grant #9 of the Detroit Pistons and Saddiq Bey #41 of the Detroit Pistons embrace after the Detroit Pistons defeated the Boston Celtics 96-93 at Little Caesars Arena on January 01, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. Nic Antaya/Getty Images/AFP
Jerami Grant had 24 points and the host Detroit Pistons scored the final eight points while collecting their first win of the season, 96-93, over the Boston Celtics on Friday.
Saddiq Bey had 17 points and seven rebounds, Derrick Rose contributed 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Josh Jackson added 11 points for Detroit.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 28 points, and Jaylen Brown tossed in 25 with nine rebounds. Marcus Smart added 13 points.
Boston started the second half on a 15-7 spurt to cut the Pistons’ 15-point halftime advantage to 62-55. Brown was the sparkplug, scoring eight of those points.
Bey stretched Detroit’s lead to 13 with a 3-pointer with 4:22 left in the quarter. Boston then went on a 10-2 run, with Tatum scoring eight of those Celtics points on a 3-pointer, a dunk, a short jumper and a free throw.
Detroit led 79-73 entering the fourth quarter, but Brown went on a personal 7-0 run to give his team the advantage. He made a 3-pointer, a pullup and a runner.
Svi Mykhailiuk’s 3-pointer with 7:16 left gave the Pistons an 86-83 lead. Tatum’s 3-pointer about two minutes later moved Boston back on top, and he drained another one with 4:15 remaining to make it 93-88.
Those were the Celtics’ last points of the game. Grant scored the next four points, and Rose put Detroit in front on a layup with 1:20 left. Bey made one of two free throws with 26 seconds left.
Tatum missed an open 3-pointer and Smart missed in the lane after an offensive rebound.
Mason Plumlee made one of two free throws to give the Pistons a three-point edge. Brown misfired on a 3-point attempt from the wing on the Celtics’ final possession.
The two teams will play again in Detroit on Sunday afternoon.
Detroit’s Blake Griffin sat out the game after suffering a concussion in the team’s previous outing against Golden State on Tuesday.
The Celtics were held to 12 first-quarter points, their lowest-scoring quarter this season, and trailed 55-40 at halftime.
