But then Drummond found a bit of an offensive rhythm during the second half. But when it comes to putting opponents on posters, the 29-year-old Australian doesn’t seem to mind taking his turn when Drummond’s catching a breather.
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We’ll see if those words come to fruition beginning with tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons at the TD Garden. He scored just 13 points and grabbed just five rebounds, but his presence and overall impact was undeniable and played a pivotal role in Detroit rallying from 13-down to get the win. He scored 19 of his 22 in the second half and had 10 assists and five rebounds.
“Eventually teams are going to start pulling away”, said Boston’s Evan Turner.
The Boston Celtics have been consistently average over the past 10, or so, games as they’ve traded wins and losses.
Big-man scare: Drummond’s left knee twisted awkwardly under him when he virtually was tackled by Amir Johnson in the lane with 7:07 remaining. “I was really surprised because it was A.T., and the one thing with him is he’s usually dialed in”, Van Gundy said. They were going to foul Andre before the ball… we weren’t even in the penalty. But Isaiah Thomas, who had theretofore been just 2 of 16 from the field, made a layup and a 3-pointer and then a tough, driving layup to put the Celtics back in front, 89-88.
Boston, which went 6 of 28 from 3-point range (Detroit was 10 of 27), scored only nine baskets over the last 18:50 of the game, none in the final 1:42. Drummond leads in three major statistical categories: rebounds (16.0), steals (1.8) and blocks (1.5) per game.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 20 points for the Pistons.
Drummond picked up his third foul early in the second quarter and had just two points and two rebounds in the opening half.
Stanley Johnson broke the back-and-forth deadlock when he drilled an open corner three early in the shot clock with just under a minute left.
“I look at the standings and it scares me how tight everything is”, Crowder said after falling to the Detroit Pistons, 99-94.
“We just gotta play a full 48”, said Johnson. Caldwell-Pope’s defense also may have affected Thomas at the free-throw line, where the diminutive guard was 9 of 13.
NOTES: There were 55 fouls in the game….
ABOUT THE CELTICS (19-16): Guard Avery Bradley missed Wednesday’s loss due to a hip contusion, which left a team that is already struggling from 3-point range without its best long-distance threat this season. “The hope is he’ll be able to give it a go on Sunday”, coach Brad Stevens said.
There is no question Andre Drummond is a better free-throw shooter in the practice gym than under the bright lights of an National Basketball Association arena.
Coach Stan Van Gundy now says he’s working with the idea of playing Jackson and Jennings together at times.
But for Isaiah Thomas, the first true sign that it was not going to be his night was when he started missing free throws, a rare sight when he’s at the line.
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He is shooting 36.2 percent for the season and Van Gundy said he can see the improvement in practice, “but in games, it’s actually gotten worse”. The Pistons will retire C Ben Wallace’s jersey in a January 16 ceremony.
