Pistons fend off Celtics in battle of East’s finest

Tobias Harris scored 25 points and the host Detroit Pistons squeaked out a 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in a showdown of the Eastern Conference’s top teams on Monday.

Jalen Duren supplied 18 points and nine rebounds, while Cade Cunningham — named an All-Star starter earlier in the day — had 16 points and 14 assists. Duncan Robinson added 15 points, all on 3-pointers.

Jaylen Brown, also chosen as an All-Star starter, had 32 points and 11 rebounds but missed a potential winning shot on Boston’s final possession. Payton Pritchard had 17 points and Sam Hauser added 16 points.

The Pistons clinched the four-game season series, 3-1, but it wasn’t easy.

Harris made a pull-up jumper in the final minute of the third quarter to give the Pistons an 84-82 lead heading into the fourth.

Jaden Ivey’s 3-pointer with 8:41 left made it 91-87 in Detroit’s favor. Cunningham set up a Robinson 3-pointer for a 96-91 lead. Boston scored the next six points, capped by a Brown layup, to regain the lead. Harris then drained a 3-pointer for a 99-97 Pistons lead.

Harris drained a corner 3-pointer with 1:37 left for a 104-99 advantage.

Brown then scored on back-to-back possessions to close the gap to one. The Pistons came up empty on their next trip. After a timeout, Brown missed a fadeaway jumper as the final buzzer sounded.

Cunningham made only one of seven field goal attempts in the first half but the Pistons came away with a 59-51 halftime advantage. Harris led the Pistons’ offense with 13 points while Brown carried Boston, which shot just 33.3%, with 19 points.

Boston used a 9-0 spurt early in the third to pull within a point. Hauser hit a pair of 3-pointers during that span. A pair of Pritchard free throws gave the Celtics a 68-67 edge.

Neither side led by more than three points the rest of the quarter.

–Field Level Media