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Wednesday, Apr. 5 7:30pm ET
Celtics close in on sixth in East | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- The pesky Boston Celtics wouldn't go away, and what looked like a runaway victory turned into a tough win for the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons survived a 17-0 Boston run in the second period and several fourth-quarter surges before finally handing the Celtics their ninth straight loss, 111-106 Wednesday night. "Give Boston a lot of credit -- they had nothing to play for tonight, but they wouldn't go away," Pistons coach George Irvine said. "When we got the big lead early (14-3 early in the first quarter), it looked like we would win it going away, but they wouldn't let us do that." Detroit, winner of three straight, moved within one game of Toronto for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Grant Hill led Detroit with 27 points and nine rebounds, while Jerry Stackhouse added 22 and Lindsey Hunter scored 18. "We had some mental letdowns in the second quarter, because things were coming so easy for us," Stackhouse said. "Once we got our defense established in the third, we were OK. They made a couple runs at us in the fourth quarter, but we were never in jeopardy." Kenny Anderson led Boston with 24 points, including eight in the final 90 seconds, while Paul Pierce added 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists. "We're not going to give up on the season," Pierce said. "Even if we don't make the playoffs, we are going to go out fighting." The Pistons led by as many as 13 in the first half, but the Celtics wiped that out with a 17-point run midway through the second quarter. Detroit led by 11 with 2:30 to go, but the Celtics kept coming and two 3-pointers by Anderson pulled Boston to 108-105 with 20.4 seconds to go. Boston fouled Jerome Williams, and he missed the first free throw before hitting the second to make it a four-point game. Williams is just a 60 percent free-throw shooter, and is hitting just 54 percent since March 1, but Irvine never considered taking him out of the game. "Not playing defense concerns me more than free-throw shooting, so I'm going to have him in there," he said. "He hit the one he needed to hit, and that's what he has been doing. You can't expect a player to have confidence in himself if the coach doesn't." Antoine Walker was fouled, but could only split the free throws. Stackhouse then hit two from the line to finally clinch the game. "We missed a lot of free throws down the stretch, and that's the sign of a young team," said Boston coach Rick Pitino. "We didn't play as good defensively in the second half as we had in the first, but Detroit also played much better offensively." Boston led 50-46 at the half and increased its margin to as many as seven early in the third, but couldn't find a way to stop Hill, who finished with 13 in the period. Six of those came in a 12-3 run that helped Detroit take a 73-68 lead, and the Pistons also scored the final six points of the period to take an 80-71 advantage. Detroit scored the first four points of the fourth to move their lead to 13 before Boston made its late rally. Game notesDetroit equaled a season-best by only allowing 12 points in the first quarter. ... Boston's nine-game losing streak is its longest since a 10-game skid in March and April of 1997. Five of the six longest streaks in team history have come since 1994. ... The loss mathematically eliminated Boston from the playoffs. ... The Pistons have won six straight against Boston, dating back to November of 1997. ... The Pistons set season highs for free throws made (43) and attempts (56). | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Boston Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Philadelphia 107 Atlanta 86
Detroit 111
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