DETROIT — Cade Cunningham and Jaylen Brown were named first-time All-Star starters Monday afternoon, and their respective teams occupied the top two spots in the Eastern Conference when the Celtics marched into Detroit.
Brown had his chance to bring the surprising Celtics closer in the standings, but his potential game-winning jumper hit the back rim, and the Pistons stretched their lead in the East to a season-high 5½ games with a 104-103 win at Little Caesars Arena.
Brown led all scorers with 32 points with 11 rebounds and scored two late baskets in the final 90 seconds to put the Celtics in position to steal a win, but veteran Tobias Harris defended Brown’s jumper — a topper on Harris’ 25-point night, his second-best scoring output of the season.
Cunningham, still dealing with the effects from a wrist injury, was four-of-17 from the field for 16 points but added 14 assists with zero turnovers.
In the player voting, Cunningham finished first in the Eastern Conference. Brown was third. Milwaukee‘s Giannis Antetokounmpo finished second in voting amongst players.
“More than anything, you want respect from your peers,” Cunningham said. “Yeah, it means a lot. I think it just is a testament to the amount of success we’ve had as a team. I think the league has to respect that. You know, being number one team in the east, night in and night out, finding ways to get wins.”
Two weeks ago, the Pistons were in this very position, a one-versus-two matchup at home when the Knicks came into Detroit. They put a 30-point win on New York, a measure of revenge dating back to last year’s first-round playoff series.
Monday night was a little different, with the Celtics having played the Pistons tough in their first three matchups this season, and the Celtics defeated the Pistons on Nov. 26 in Boston, ending their franchise-record 13-game winning streak.
Things played out somewhat similarly in the ultimate clash of styles making fights with the rough-and-tumble Pistons contending with a Celtics team that takes nearly half its shots from 3-point range.
The Pistons held the Celtics to 13 of 41 from distance and hit 11 themselves with Duncan Robinson hitting five and Harris three of his own, which they’ll take as a win considering they’re a bottom five team in attempts and makes.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to play one of the better teams in the league, it tests your mettle a little bit, and it’s how you sharpen your tools,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “You could tell both teams really wanted it. They raised the level of intensity and they were battling. It’s a great experience for our guys.”
The Pistons are second in defensive efficiency behind Oklahoma City, and have raised it up a notch this month, being eight points better than the Thunder at 99.5 points per 100 possessions. They held the Celtics to 21 points in the fourth Monday and did just enough offensively to win.
“I think last year we saw some moments where I felt we would get rattled from time to time,” Harris told ESPN. “But with the experience Cade [Cunningham] has gotten, making big shots, we all trust him to make the big play. Tonight, it may not have been his best night, but he made the right plays out there. Those are plays that give teammates and the group life.”
Harris was one of the defenders who hounded Brown into an 11 for 28 shooting night, along with Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland II and Cunningham. Celtics star Jayson Tatum was seen going through one-on-one workouts in Celtics shootaround Monday morning, with videos of him dunking surfacing in the afternoon.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla refused to add fuel to the fire, only saying “I failed medical school” when asked if it meant anything for Tatum’s timeline from Achilles surgery he had last May.
It was Cunningham who remarked how well Brown handled all the offensive attention with Tatum out while still having moments guarding Cunningham, too.
“To be on top of someone’s scouting report offensively is impressive and then take the responsibility of guarding the other side’s top [offensive player], I got a lot of respect for that,” Cunningham said. “He’s a class act. It’s the competition I love. He’s one of the better ones.”
