Although they were missing four players, including two starters, the Boston Celtics turned in what may have been their best defensive performance of the season during a 108-89 victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla undoubtedly would like to see a similar effort when the Celtics face the visiting Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
The Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis (injury management), Jrue Holiday (left knee), Al Horford (toe sprain) and Sam Hauser (personal reasons), but they held Miami to 35.6 percent shooting from the field (31 of 87).
It was the first time this season that the Celtics held an opponent to less than 90 points and also the first time a Boston opponent shot less than 40 percent from the floor.
Porzingis and Horford should be back in action on Wednesday, while Holiday and Jayson Tatum (right knee) were listed as questionable.
Luke Kornet got the start at center and led the Celtics’ defensive effort by tying his career high with six blocked shots.
“When he plays with that level of physicality on both ends of the floor, it makes our team different,” Mazzulla said. “I think his two biggest strengths are his physicality and rim protection when he’s at his best, and then his screening versus different coverages. I thought we saw both of those throughout the game, and he’s just got to continue to do that. But when he plays at a high level, we’re a different team, and we can go to different things.”
Boston’s Payton Pritchard strengthened his early-season case for NBA Sixth Man of the Year by making 5 of 12 3-point attempts and scoring 25 points against the Heat. Pritchard has come off the bench to score at least 20 points in each of the team’s past four games.
Despite a 3-1 record in NBA Cup group play, the Celtics were eliminated from the event following Tuesday’s results.
The Pistons also were knocked out of the NBA Cup after taking a 128-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. Cade Cunningham scored a team-high 23 points for Detroit, which finished 3-1 in group play.
“This was the first meaningful game of my (NBA) career, for a lot of our careers,” Cunningham said. “Now we’re on to trying to get into the playoffs and feel that again.”
Tobias Harris (16 points), Tim Hardaway (15) and Jalen Duren (11) also scored in double figures for the Pistons, who surrendered 78 points in the first half and trailed by 19 at halftime.
“It was a great opportunity and experience for our guys,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The message to our guys is, for a lot of us in the NBA this is the biggest game that we’ve had, right? And playing against a team that has champions on it. Guys who have been through the fire before, understand what it takes to reach that next level. The NBA doesn’t let you skip steps.
“All the guys in that (Milwaukee) locker room who won championships or had playoff success, at some point in time as a team they didn’t reach their goals either, and they learned from it, got better from it. And that’s what we have to do. We have to learn from it, see what it felt like. You don’t know what it feels like until you go through it.”
The Pistons have lost their past two games and six of their past eight. The Celtics have won eight of their past nine overall and five in a row at home.
