Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and the NBA-leading Boston Celtics defeated the short-handed Detroit Pistons 129-102 on Friday night for their eighth straight win.
Boston improved to 56-15 with a winning percentage of .800. Detroit is tied with Washington for last place in the league at 12-58, and is 44 games behind the Celtics.
Peyton Pritchard had 20 points and Derrick White had 19 points and 11 assists. Jayson Tatum missed the game against Detroit to rest his ankle for the second time in five days and also missed Monday night's 119-94 home win.
For Detroit, James Wiseman scored a season-high 24 points and Jaden Ivey had 16 points. The Pistons have lost nine straight games against Boston.
The Pistons were without their top five post players: Jalen Duren (back), Stanley Umude (ankle), Simone Fontecchio (toe), Isaiah Stewart (hamstring) and Orser Thompson (illness). This leaves the starting backcourt of Tosan Evbomwan, Troy Brown Jr., and Wiseman.
The score was tied at 43 in the second period, but Boston quickly took over, including the second and part of the third quarter. The Celtics went on a 47-21 run to take a 90-64 lead with 6:10 left in the third.
Brown scored 17 points in the third to help Boston lead 104-83. Celtics manager Joe Mazzula emptied his bench in the fourth inning.
next
Celtics: Saturday night at Chicago.
Pistons: Host New Orleans on Sunday.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
