Best of NBA: Horford’s late bucket lifts Celtics over Pistons

Boston leads Detroit by a half-game in the Eastern Conference standings. “But we gotta be more consistent as players and as coaches”.

For the Celtics they are going to look to build on the momentum from their win over the Pistons with a Monday night game against the Minnesota Wild and their incredibly young and talented roster.

Isaiah Thomas had 24 points and eight assists for Boston, while Horford added 18 points and 11 rebounds on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT) in the Pistons’ first home defeat of the National Basketball Association season. “I thought we did a great job of just playing hard in that first half”. “[It was] very frustrating these last few weeks, dealing with a lot of different things, but finally I was at the point that I felt good enough today that I was ready to play”.

Boston chipped it down to 11 points in the final 90 seconds. Man, they may scare free agents away.

When Horford and Crowder were both healthy earlier in the season, Smart and Kelly Olynyk were dealing with injuries.

Marcus Morris had a team-high 24 points, Tobias Harris contributed 19 and Ish Smith added 12 for Detroit.

Horford scored with 1.3 seconds left and provided a key block on the other end to preserve the Celtics’ win over the Pistons. Jahlil Okafor, who platoons with him at center, was under the same minutes restriction because of knee surgery last season. “But you just can’t have droughts against them”, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.

Marcus Smart (ankle) was hurt in Friday’s loss to Golden State, but Stevens said Smart was fine and will be available to play tonight. “Our guys were making the right reads and the right plays”.

Toronto 113, at Denver 111 (OT): DeMar DeRozan, the NBA’s leading scorer, had 30 points, including four in overtime, as the Raptors improved to 4-1 on the road. He hit a free throw after the Pistons were called for a defensive three-second violation, then knocked down his second 3-pointer of the game.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had just four points and one field goal, but it was a big one – a tying 3-pointer late in the game. “We’ve lost three in a row now, six out of eight”. It was a particularly positive sign to see Horford sitting on the bench with the team during the game, as he had previously been absent from the bench in order to control his concussion. He too got off to a solid start to the season before getting hurt, averaging 13.5 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 55.6 percent overall and 47.4 percent from long range. Avery Bradley secured another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cavs accounted for the Detroit Pistons 104-81 with James back in the team after a one-game absence.