It should have been another box checked for the Celtics, further proof that they can play with the top of the Eastern Conference. Instead, it turned into another winnable game lost to self-inflicted errors, mistakes too costly for a combined 65 points from Jaylen Brown (34 points on 13-of-25 shooting, eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks) and Derrick White (season-high 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting, six rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal) to overcome.
Some of the mistakes were uncharacteristic. All of them were damaging.
Six fourth-quarter turnovers led to seven points, making up over a quarter of Detroit’s fourth-quarter scoring. It marked Boston’s second-most turnovers in a quarter all season and their most in a fourth quarter.
A season-high eight missed free throws, including seven from Jaylen Brown, tying his career-high.
Twelve offensive rebounds, which was an improvement from their earlier meetings with Detroit, but still resulted in 16 points, including four in the fourth quarter.
“All that stuff adds up,” Brown said. “Turnovers. Missed free throws. Open shots. All of that little stuff adds up. Tonight wasn’t my best night at that, but I take accountability. We’ll get ready for the next one.”
Compounding the mistakes, the offense went ice-cold for a second straight game. After a 33-point first quarter (12-of-20 FG, 5-of-11 3PT), the Celtics scored just 72 points over the final three quarters, shooting 26-of-62 (41.9%) from the field and an abysmal 5-of-28 (17.8%) from three. They shot 1-of-18 from three in the middle two quarters.
“I thought in the first game, [Milwaukee last Thursday] that we didn’t play well,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “This game, I thought we executed. I thought we got some really good looks, and I thought we didn’t make them. We obviously had some possessions where we either didn’t execute or find the right spacing. We had 13 turnovers. A couple of those live-balls were for dunks, but I thought it was a better process tonight than it was in the past game, for sure. I thought they just made some more plays than we did down the stretch.”
Making just 10 three-pointers on 25.6% shooting (tied for their season-worst) and scoring only 24 points in each of the final three quarters makes it nearly impossible to beat any team, let alone a Detroit team that walked into TD Garden atop the Eastern Conference at 20-5. When you go that cold, even a strong defensive effort can’t make up for it.
“Some of the turnovers, we kind of just lost the ball, and they got it. Just kind of weird,” White said. “Some of the shots were wide open, and we missed them. That's basketball. Obviously, they're a really good team and playing well this year, so their physicality and pressure kind of makes those happen sometimes, but sometimes it’s just the game.”
Despite their surge in the Eastern Conference over the last few weeks, the Celtics are in no position to be dropping winnable games, particularly when many of the mistakes are preventable. That they were able to hang in as long as they did, despite ice-cold shooting and compounding errors down the stretch, is at least something, and they deserve credit for it, but effort alone won’t carry them against the league’s elite.
“I thought we battled,” Payton Pritchard said. “I thought this was like a playoff game. It was a good game in general, so something you learn from and grow and keep getting better.”
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