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Boston Celtics: 3 Takeaways From Third Straight Win, 108-105, Over Pistons

By Thomas King

Marcus Morris has been the focal point of the Boston Celtics killer bench unit. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
Marcus Morris has been the focal point of the Boston Celtics killer bench unit. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart defends in the post.
The Boston Celtics didn’t shut down Blake Griffin again, but they did enough to win. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Win Without Your Best

The best teams in basketball can win even when they don’t play their best. The Boston Celtics showed Tuesday that even when things aren’t going great, they are still good enough to pull out games.

The Celtics gave up 58 first-half points. They once again didn’t shoot the three-ball well, except for Irving and Morris. Brad Stevens picked up a technical foul.

After holding Blake Griffin to seven points on Saturday, the Celtics defense didn’t give him the same team-wide attention and allowed the five-time All-Star to post 24 points and 15 rebounds. Andre Drummond had 17 points and 12 rebounds, including 4 of Detroit’s 11 offensive rebounds.

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Still, Boston used another third quarter push from the bench and the awakened fourth quarter closing ability of Irving to seal the game. Stevens won’t be happy with the consistency over 48 minutes, but sometimes this season, the Celtics will be good enough to win without their best.

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