DETROIT: Jeremi Grant scored 24 points and Derrick Rose added 17 as the Detroit Pistons won their first game of the season, beating the Boston Celtics 96-93 on Friday night.
Rookie Saddiq Bey added 17 points for the Pistons, who had dropped four in a row to start the season.
Jayson Tatum had 28 points for the Celtics. Jaylen Brown scored 25, but missed a 3 point in the dying seconds.
The Pistons led with a whopping 21 points in the first period and had a 55-40 advantage in the third quarter, but the Celtics’ defense brought them back into the game. Boston had nine rolling points in the quarter to cut the deficit to 79-73.
Brown scored the first seven points of the fourth to give Boston their first lead, and Tatum’s 3-point pointer was 93-88 with 4:15 to go. The Celtics, however, missed their next seven shots and Rose’s layup put the Pistons ahead 94-93 with 1:20 to go.
Saddiq Bey’s free throw brought the score to 95-93 with 25.5 seconds left, and Marcus Smart missed a shot equal to 5.6 seconds left.
Mason Plumlee missed the first of two free throws, giving the Celtics one last chance to tie the game, but Brown missed the right wing.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Boston missed 11 of its first 13 shots from the ground to fall behind 23-5 with 3:46 left in the first quarter, but beat the Pistons 35-32 for the remainder of the first half. … Robert Williams III left the game in the fourth quarter after hitting his legs with Rose.
Pistons: Grant had 18 points in the first half, including a dunk on Daniel Theis. … Killian Hayes started at point guard despite a sore ankle. He had six assists and failed to score in 23 minutes.
NEXT
The teams will face off again on Sunday.
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