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Monday, Mar. 13 8:00pm ET
Detroit improves to 3-1 under interim coach | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- The Boston Celtics, in a deep hole early, clawed their way back into Monday's night game against the Detroit Pistons but the comeback came up short. The Celtics hope their push for a playoff spot doesn't suffer the same fate.
Jerry Stackhouse scored 36 points as Detroit built a 25-point halftime lead and held on to beat the Celtics 124-115, ending Boston's four-game winning streak. "Give Boston credit -- it would have been really easy for them to quit at halftime with this being the second half of a back-to-back," Pistons interim coach George Irvine said. "But they kept taking the ball to the basket and we kept fouling them. Then they would press off the free throws and foul us or make us take a jump shot. That really lengthened the game, which is what they wanted." The teams combined for 44 free-throw attempts on 25 fouls in a fourth quarter that lasted 43 minutes. Boston coach Rick Pitino thought his team's driving and pressing might be enough to overcome the 72-47 halftime deficit. "I really believed we were going to win the game," Pitino said. "We were right there, but we just couldn't get over the hump. They are good free-throw shooters and they made us pay. I've been in lots of situations where we made comebacks like that, but almost always against poor free-throw shooting teams." Boston, which is three games behind Orlando and Milwaukee in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth, did get within six points, but a Stackhouse jumper gave Detroit a 94-81 cushion heading into the fourth quarter. Lindsey Hunter added 25 points for Detroit, which improved to 3-1 under Irvine. "We really needed this win," Stackhouse said. "I'm a little disappointed with the way we finished, but it's tough to play with a 30-point lead. Once we got so far ahead, we stopped playing aggressive." Paul Pierce led Boston with a career-best 38, while Antoine Walker added 30. Detroit started out strongly, hitting eight of its first nine shots, including four 3-pointers. That gave the Pistons a 20-6 lead after just four minutes, and they led 32-23 at the end of the first quarter. The second period was more of the same, as the Pistons hit their first seven shots to take a 50-30 lead. It all led to the highest-scoring half for Detroit since it poured in 73 against the Celtics on April 16, 1991. Stackhouse had 25 in the half on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 from the line. "We played about as good as we can possibly play in the first half," said Grant Hill, who had 14 points. "We weren't so good in the second half, but we already had a big enough cushion." Game notesBoston played without Danny Fortson, who missed the game to attend a funeral. ... The Celtics are now 1-17 in the second game of back-to-backs. ... Detroit shot better from the field (68 percent) than Boston did from the free-throw line (64 percent) in the first half. ... Boston had held each of its last two opponents under 80 points. Detroit reached 80 three minutes into the third quarter. ... Three players -- Stackhouse, Hill and Williams -- took Detroit's first 31 free throws. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Boston Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Detroit 124 Boston 115
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