Celtics post tenth straight victory in Detroit

The Detroit Pistons hung tough with the Boston Celtics for most of the game on Friday night in Motown, but at the end the balance of power in the NBA remained intact—the Celtics won their 10th straight game as they outlasted the Pistons 86-78.  Detroit, meanwhile, continued to struggle with their 9th loss in their past thirteen games.

After receiving a boost from their bench in recent outings, this time the Celtics starters led the way.  Kevin Garnett scored a game high 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds.  Paul Pierce added 20 points and Ray Allen posted 14.  Alan Iverson and Rodney Stuckey shared the Pistons scoring lead with 19 points apiece, while Richard Hamilton added 14 off the bench.  Antonio McDyess saw big minutes at power forward for Detroit, and responded with 4 points and 14 rebounds.  

With most of the Celtics’ recent games being easy blowout victories, team coach Doc Rivers was pleased that his team responded well to a challenge:

"It was kind of nice. I thought our execution down the stretch was phenomenal, as good as we've had all year."
With their current winning streak climbing into the double digit range, Doc Rivers put the Celtics’ late December/early January 2-7 swoon into perspective:

"We lost a sense of urgency during that stretch.”

Detroit’s Alan Iverson reached a personal milestone in the defeat, as his 19 points moved him past Charles Barkley for 16th on the NBA’s all time scoring list.  The enigmatic Iverson suggested that he couldn’t  really care less:

"I want to get past Barkley with one other accomplishment and that's winning a championship. I don't care about any of that individual stuff."

Boston will host former Celtic great Kevin McHale’s Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday before traveling to Philadelphia for a Tuesday night contest.  The highlight of the week will be a rematch of the Christmas Day game against the LA Lakers—as if the Celtics needed any more motivation for a meeting with their perennial rivals, the Lakers were responsible for ending Boston’s franchise record 19 game winning streak.
 
Detroit has a couple of tough games at home, starting with LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday followed by Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat on Wednesday.  They’ll then hit the road for a game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday 2/7.