BOSTON (AP) — Jerami Grant hit the winning basket and scored 24 points to help the Detroit Pistons end an eight-game losing streak and the Boston Celtics’ nine-game winning streak, 112-111 on Wednesday night.
Jayson Tatum had a chance to send the Celtics into the All-Star break on a 10-game roll, but his jumper from the top of the key bounced high off the rim. Tatum scored nine of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.
Cade Cunningham scored 20 points and had a key lock in the final minute in the Pistons’ first victory since Jan. 30.
Grant completed the scoring with a jumper from 10 feet with 19.1 seconds left. Cunningham blocked a shot by Jaylen Brown with 8.9 seconds left and the Pistons survived after Boston’s Derick White broke-up the inbounds play, giving the Celtics one more shot to extend their streak.
Saddiq Bey added 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Kelly Olynyk had 15 points for the Pistons.
Brown led Boston with 31 points. Al Horford finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Grant Williams scored 17 points.
Boston was was coming off a 135-87 blowout victory the night before at Philadelphia.
TIP-INS
Pistons: G Frank Jackson missed his second straight game with a back injury. … The Pistons made 13 of 24 shots in the third quarter, including 6 of 10 from three-point range that helped them to a 84-83 lead after three periods. … Hamidou Diallo opened the second quarter with a powerful, two-handed dunk that tied it at 25.
Celtics: G Marcus Smart, who sprained his right ankle in the second quarter Tuesday night at Philadelphia, did not play and C Robert Williams (right calf tightness) was out for the second consecutive night. … Brown scored 13 points in the first quarter and 14 in the third. … C Daniel Theis, who returned to Boston last week in a trade with Houston, received a warm round of applause when he entered the game with 4:18 left in the first quarter.
UP NEXT
Pistons: Host Cleveland on Thursday, Feb. 24.
Celtics: At Brooklyn on Thursday, Feb. 24.
