December 15, 2025 • 18 mins
For the third time in three meetings this season, the Celtics and Pistons went down to the wire. That’s got us thinking: wouldn’t a playoff series between these two teams be ridiculously entertaining? The Pistons came out on top this time and we dive into what went wrong for the Celtics, highlighted by missed free throws and not taking advantage of Cade Cunningham’s foul trouble.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
The sound off would be fokes on a Piston Celtics game,
yet again coming down to the final minutes, but unfortunately
this time not coming out in Boston's favor. This is
the sound Off postgame podcast presented by Exfinity Mobile. Thanks
for giving us to listen or giving us a watch
on YouTube. And yes, this one did come down to
(00:27):
the final moments and the Celtics just didn't have what
it took to be able to come out on top.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
The Celtics played hard in this game.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You can't question that they just didn't play well in
the most important moments. It felt like it was missed
shots or turnovers or defensive lapses, uncharacteristic things that we
don't usually see from this Celtics team, even coming out
of timeouts just turning the ball over. We saw airballs
(00:58):
from Peyton Pritchettlee. He took a three pointer toward the
end of the game that was an important shot. If
he made it, the Celtics still have a chance to
win the game airbut it was a pretty quality look
top of the arc. Basically a wide open shot, airball,
short and far to the right. Things that you never
see out of this team in a particular guy who's
(01:20):
a great shooter like Peyton Pritchard missing by that much.
Derek White fired up in airball tonight, at least one.
I think the Celtics had four or five airballs in
this game. You never see that from a team that
shoots this well. And then some of those uncharacteristic turnovers
again just really came back to bite this team in
the butt during this game. They just couldn't make the
(01:43):
critical plays at the critical moments. Meanwhile, on the other
side of the ball, the Detroit Pistons did and that's
how they wound up coming out on top.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And during the fourth.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Quarter, as the Celtics were struggling at times during those
very critical moments, Derek White it his best to still
try to give this team an opportunity to win. He
scored fourteen points during the fourth quarter alone, fourteen of
his I believe it was thirty one points on the night,
just gonna double check that, yes, thirty one points on
the night, fourteen of them coming during the fourth quarter.
(02:15):
He was splashing home some three pointers at moments that
we're giving the Celtics just a little bit of life, right,
they just had an opportunity if they get a stopp
or to score at the other end, they can really
put the pressure on the Detroit Pistons. But after he
made those shots, the Celtics weren't able to make the
next play to be able to push the Pistons to
the edge and try to get over and try to
(02:38):
win this game. So a great performance from him in
particular during that fourth quarter to give the Celtics a
chance when they just weren't playing their best basketball. But
Celtics couldn't take advantage of it, unfortunately. And another thing
that they couldn't take advantage of is Kate Cunningham, who
was the only offensive player who had it going for
(02:59):
Detroit the first three plus quarters. He picked up his
fifth foul with seven plus minutes left in this game,
and at that moment, the Celtics were down by four
points and it felt like, all right, Caate is out
of the game. The Celtics have a real opportunity here
to make a push, and instead it goes in the
opposite direction. That was a critical opportunity for the Celtics
(03:23):
that they did not take advantage of. Kate Cunningham checks out,
Celtics down by four, was seven to twenty left in
the game. When he checked back in, the Pistons were
up by six, and they had just been up by
nine moments before that. So Detroit built on its lead
while it's best player and real only consistent offensive force
(03:44):
during this game, at least through the first three quarters
while he was on the bench. So that was a
moment there that I felt was very important to what
the result is of this game and the Pistons coming
out on top. The Celtics had a chance to take
advantage of a Detroit team that was without its best
player for a decent stretch there of the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
They did not apply the pressure. They couldn't get the
stops from the rest of the Detroit Pistons. And you know,
Javonte Green had a huge three pointer, another steal and
a driving dunk like those are big moments that the
rest of the Pistons need credit for because they did
make those plays. But the Celtics just didn't bring what
(04:27):
it took to the table to be able to force
those misses and then score at the other end to
try to take advantage of those moments when Kid Cunningham
was on the bench. So that to me was you
know a lot of people are going to look at
the final couple of minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
To me, the Celtics fell behind by nine points when
Kid Cunningham was on the bench, and that is something
that just cannot happen if you want to try to
have a chance to win the game. A quick word
from our sponsor Inxfinity Mobile, whether you are cheering on
the Celtics at the garden or catching the game on
the road, you need a network that delivers no drop calls,
(05:06):
just smooth connections. Exfinity Mobile puts intelligent Wi Fi first
and five G when it matters most. It's the kind
of double double coverage you can trust anywhere life takes you.
Exfinity Mobile. Imagine that all right now. The other thing
that we got to touch on that we spoke about
very briefly at the Open is that this was yet
(05:27):
another game between the Celtics and the Pistons that came
down to the wire. They have played three times this season.
All three games were tight coming down the stretch. The
Celtics pulled out the second one after the Pistons won
early in the season out in Detroit, and then this
one again goes down to the final minutes and it
could have wound up in either direction in the win
lost column. I am taking away from this that I
(05:50):
would love to see these two teams meet in the postseason.
To me, it's just a great matchup of two very
different teams that have very different strengths. On Boston set,
you've got an elite, elite wing scorer in Jalen Brown
who does the majority of his work inside the three
point arc. The Celtics also lean heavily into skill, and tonight,
(06:13):
by the way, they were missing some of that skill
when Sam Houser sprained his ankle and did not return
to the lineup. It's a big part that they didn't
have for the high majority.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Of this game.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
But that's what the Celtics lean into. They lean into speed,
they lean into skill, they lean into small ball when
Tomas Kida is not out on the floor, and they
lean into Jalen Brown doing what he's done all season long,
another thirty plus point performance. During this game, he scored
thirty four to lead I believe that was a game high,
(06:44):
and yes it was. Kate Cunningham had thirty two to
lead Detroit. So that's what the Celtics lean into. On
the other side of the ball, the Pistons lean into
Kate Cunningham being a huge guard who can score.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
From all three levels.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And then they lean into big, physical play right They've
got Jalen Duran around the basket, have been one of
the best big men in the league this season. Isaiah
Stewart is always a wrecking ball down around the rim,
and he was again tonight. Came off the bench and
gave the Pistons seven rebounds off the bench to go
along with seven points.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
A block shot.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That to me, those are the two things that the
Pistons love to lean into. Cad Cunningham and size and
physicality inside and really in general, this Piston's team is
pretty big. Even their wings are big, long, athletic, physical defenders.
So these are two very different teams, and yet somehow
(07:44):
they offset each other to a point where basically, well
not basically, it's every time they have met so far
this season, it's been a great basketball game. So just
imagine if we were able to get this in a
playoff environment out in Detroit, a city that's been starving
to see their basketball team come back and try to
compete for a conference championship and then here in Boston, obviously,
(08:06):
you know this place would love it if we were
playing against the Pistons team that remember, these two teams
went at it back in the eighties, okay, when Larry
Bird and Isaiah Thomas and all those guys were out here.
So I would love to see these two teams meet
in the playoffs. And it would just be even better
if the Celtics maybe potentially who knows, we have, no idea,
(08:26):
hasn't been spoken about, no speculation here, but what if
the Celtics did have number zero back? Would be a
lot of fun to see these two teams meet. All right,
let's dive into some comments from our fans. We've got
two of them tonight. First one up is from Quapped
on Boston's free throw struggles during this game. And then secondly,
we've got Staffy on this team's inconsistencies.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So far this season. All right, First one up, Quapped,
It's on you.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
My son's already in the car.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Bye, I thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
One cut your mobile bill in half and save sixty
five dollars a month for your first year with Expinity
Mobile Expinity imagine that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
All right, as promised, Quapped is up first and His
comment is, hit your damn free throws. Okay, straight to
the point, I understand it, Quapped, you usually are straight
to the point. I know you are a hardcore Celtics fan.
Appreciate you giving us a watch or a listen.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Uh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
The Celtics struggled from the free throw line tonight. Okay,
nineteen of twenty seven as a team overall in the game.
And the big numbers here, and we don't want to
place any blame anywhere, but these are the numbers. Brown
shot just seven or fourteen from the free throw line tonight.
That's not good. Okay, seven to fourteen for Jalen Brown,
(10:06):
something that any of us have in particular this season.
He has been much better free throw line this year.
Tonight's game, he was a seventy nine pewter from the
free throw line on a career high seven point two
attempts per game, shooting almost eighty percent. Okay, on a
career high number of free throws per game. That's pretty
(10:30):
darn good. And then tonight somehow just wound up with
a clunker seven to fourteen from the line. He was
I believe four of six during the fourth quarter, but
those two misses during the fourth quarter felt so big, right,
you can't give away points during those critical moments. Sorry,
he was two for four from the free throw line
(10:50):
during the fourth quarter of the Celtics as a team
were four for six during the fourth quarter. But those
two misses from Jalen during that final frame came in
a moment where he met and then the Pistons scored
right after that. So it was a four point swing
with about three ish minutes left, and it just felt
like at that moment, Detroit was starting to build a
little momentum and was going to pull away and be
(11:13):
able to finish this off.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
But as a whole, not even just Jalen.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Nineteen of twenty seven from the free throw line, that's
not a good enough number. But I will say this, okay,
that I don't think that that's why the Celtics loss
this game. And the reason I say that is because
you can look on the other side of the ball
and the Pistons did the exact same thing, almost exactly
the same. They shot seventeen of twenty five from the
(11:39):
free throw line. Both teams shot just about seventy percent, okay,
So to me, that kind of offsets each other. I
don't think those seven free throws excuse me, those eight
free throws that the Celtics missed seven of them from
Jalen Brown. You know you're not going to shoot a
hundred percent from the free throw line. It's just not
going to happen. That very rarely happens, especially taking twenty
(12:00):
five plus free throws.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Per game as a team.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So with that not happening in the Celtics not shooting
that super high percentage and then the Piston shooting basically
the same percentage, I cough it up as just okay,
these two teams basically did the same thing. It offsets
each other. The game was one and lost in other areas.
That being said, can't have Jalen Brown shooting seven or
(12:27):
fourteen from the free throw line. I know for a
fact that he's feeling that after this game, he's certainly
going to be upset with himself that he didn't perform
at a higher level from the free throw line. I
am confident that he will bounce back from that and
give us that eighty ish percent free throw percentage that
we've seen so far this season. Here again, moving forward,
But yes, some big misses tonight, in particular, those two
(12:49):
by Jalen during the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
But overall, you can't give points away. All right.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
If you got free opportunities at the free throw line,
you got to take advantage, especially when you're playing against
one of the best teams in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Second and final comment of the night coming in from
Stathi who says they've been too inconsistent this season.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Actually, there's a few negative comments here that we're sent
in at to this game. And I understand the emotion
of losing a game, but you're playing against the best
team in the Eastern Conference. You came down to the
final minutes. Let's not get too upset. Okay, it's not
like the Celtics just didn't give any effort played terrible.
Now to the point of inconsistencies, I actually believe that
(13:38):
the Boston Celtics have been very consistent this season in
some of the most important factors. I touched on this already,
that the most important factor is playing with effort, playing hard. Okay,
when you've got a team that is not as stacked
with talent as it has been in the past couple
of seasons, you're not gonna win as you can't win
(13:59):
games as easy, right, You're gonna have to fight for
the games that you win. And to me, Joe Missoula
has done a great job this season of making sure
that his team is I know he doesn't like the
term bought in, but I believe they are bought in
on knowing that they have to give total, all out
effort all the time to be able to be a
(14:20):
good team. They've done that, like I actually think they
even played hard during this game. They just didn't make shots.
And that is the area where inconsistencies have shown up
to me tonight, during the third quarter. It's one quarter
that you go ice cold and things start to turn
on you. One for ten from three point range during
(14:41):
the third quarter, ten of thirty nine from three point
range for the entire game. Those are numbers that are
very difficult to overcome, especially when you're a team that
relies so heavily on three point shooting. This is one
of the better three point shooting teams in the NBA,
and as a result of not shooting well during that
(15:02):
third quarter, in particular a one for ten effort from
long range, Detroit winds up outscoring you by eight points
during that third quarter and again, that's where the momentum
started to build. That's where Detroit started to feel like,
all right, we found something here and we're gonna be
able to run with this into the winner circle. And
that's exactly what wound up. Happened, and Boston had led
(15:26):
during the third quarter by eight points, but then they
wound up trailing by six points. So we're talking about
a fourteen point swing during the third quarter alone, and
it was because of the inconsistencies with the shooting. That
is the one area where this team in particular has
had some inconsistencies this season. It's just shooting the ball.
(15:49):
More often than not, they have been pretty good. Okay,
you do away with those opening few games of the season,
take away these last couple they've been pretty good at
scoring the basket. The best offenses in the NBA. That
doesn't happen without being able to shoot the ball well. Okay,
But on certain nights and in certain moments like tonight,
(16:11):
during that third quarter, sometimes the team goes ice cold.
So that is an area that I think can just
improve just a little bit to not.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Have those dry spells.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
It just happened the other night when the Celtics lost
their last game, they were ice cold for the entire
second half, and now during this game, they go ice
cold during the third quarter and wound up allowing Detroit
to start gaining that momentum, which wound up propelling the
Pistons into the Winter Circle. So I actually think the
team has been very consistent this season with some of
(16:42):
the most important areas, mainly playing with effort and playing
hard all the time because you have to do that
to be competitive. And again, I repeat, they played hard
and with effort tonight. That's how they were competitive with
the best team in the East. What they didn't do
to night and where they were inconsistent was with their shooting,
(17:04):
and that's where it fell off during that third quarter,
and that's how the Pistons pulled away from the win
for the win. So now the Celtics have suffered a
couple consecutive losses. They lost to Milwaukee, a game where
you never want to give away a win against a
team that certainly had not been performing well so far
this season, and then tonight you give away a game
(17:24):
to Detroit when you just don't shoot the ball well
during the third quarter. Let's hope that things turn okay.
The Celtics, maybe some of Maybe there is something to
say about the Celtics only playing two games in eleven days,
Maybe the practices didn't keep them sharp. Who knows, But
they're gonna be back on the court again on Friday.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So that's the next game.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
We'll have another sound Off coming up both on YouTube
and your favorite podcast platforms. That is Friday night, after
the Celtics play host to the Miami Heat.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So that's our next game.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
We've only got a couple more before Christmas rolls around,
so make sure you tune in, send in your comments
after the final buzzer of that game Friday night, and
I'll be sure to include a couple of them in
the next episode of sound Off, presented by ex Spinity Mobile.
Thanks for listening or giving us a watch.
The sound off would be fokes on a Piston Celtics game,
yet again coming down to the final minutes, but unfortunately
this time not coming out in Boston's favor. This is
the sound Off postgame podcast presented by Exfinity Mobile. Thanks
for giving us to listen or giving us a watch
on YouTube. And yes, this one did come down to
(00:27):
the final moments and the Celtics just didn't have what
it took to be able to come out on top.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
The Celtics played hard in this game.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You can't question that they just didn't play well in
the most important moments. It felt like it was missed
shots or turnovers or defensive lapses, uncharacteristic things that we
don't usually see from this Celtics team, even coming out
of timeouts just turning the ball over. We saw airballs
(00:58):
from Peyton Pritchettlee. He took a three pointer toward the
end of the game that was an important shot. If
he made it, the Celtics still have a chance to
win the game airbut it was a pretty quality look
top of the arc. Basically a wide open shot, airball,
short and far to the right. Things that you never
see out of this team in a particular guy who's
(01:20):
a great shooter like Peyton Pritchard missing by that much.
Derek White fired up in airball tonight, at least one.
I think the Celtics had four or five airballs in
this game. You never see that from a team that
shoots this well. And then some of those uncharacteristic turnovers
again just really came back to bite this team in
the butt during this game. They just couldn't make the
(01:43):
critical plays at the critical moments. Meanwhile, on the other
side of the ball, the Detroit Pistons did and that's
how they wound up coming out on top.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And during the fourth.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Quarter, as the Celtics were struggling at times during those
very critical moments, Derek White it his best to still
try to give this team an opportunity to win. He
scored fourteen points during the fourth quarter alone, fourteen of
his I believe it was thirty one points on the night,
just gonna double check that, yes, thirty one points on
the night, fourteen of them coming during the fourth quarter.
(02:15):
He was splashing home some three pointers at moments that
we're giving the Celtics just a little bit of life, right,
they just had an opportunity if they get a stopp
or to score at the other end, they can really
put the pressure on the Detroit Pistons. But after he
made those shots, the Celtics weren't able to make the
next play to be able to push the Pistons to
the edge and try to get over and try to
(02:38):
win this game. So a great performance from him in
particular during that fourth quarter to give the Celtics a
chance when they just weren't playing their best basketball. But
Celtics couldn't take advantage of it, unfortunately. And another thing
that they couldn't take advantage of is Kate Cunningham, who
was the only offensive player who had it going for
(02:59):
Detroit the first three plus quarters. He picked up his
fifth foul with seven plus minutes left in this game,
and at that moment, the Celtics were down by four
points and it felt like, all right, Caate is out
of the game. The Celtics have a real opportunity here
to make a push, and instead it goes in the
opposite direction. That was a critical opportunity for the Celtics
(03:23):
that they did not take advantage of. Kate Cunningham checks out,
Celtics down by four, was seven to twenty left in
the game. When he checked back in, the Pistons were
up by six, and they had just been up by
nine moments before that. So Detroit built on its lead
while it's best player and real only consistent offensive force
(03:44):
during this game, at least through the first three quarters
while he was on the bench. So that was a
moment there that I felt was very important to what
the result is of this game and the Pistons coming
out on top. The Celtics had a chance to take
advantage of a Detroit team that was without its best
player for a decent stretch there of the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
They didn't.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
They did not apply the pressure. They couldn't get the
stops from the rest of the Detroit Pistons. And you know,
Javonte Green had a huge three pointer, another steal and
a driving dunk like those are big moments that the
rest of the Pistons need credit for because they did
make those plays. But the Celtics just didn't bring what
(04:27):
it took to the table to be able to force
those misses and then score at the other end to
try to take advantage of those moments when Kid Cunningham
was on the bench. So that to me was you
know a lot of people are going to look at
the final couple of minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
To me, the Celtics fell behind by nine points when
Kid Cunningham was on the bench, and that is something
that just cannot happen if you want to try to
have a chance to win the game. A quick word
from our sponsor Inxfinity Mobile, whether you are cheering on
the Celtics at the garden or catching the game on
the road, you need a network that delivers no drop calls,
(05:06):
just smooth connections. Exfinity Mobile puts intelligent Wi Fi first
and five G when it matters most. It's the kind
of double double coverage you can trust anywhere life takes you.
Exfinity Mobile. Imagine that all right now. The other thing
that we got to touch on that we spoke about
very briefly at the Open is that this was yet
(05:27):
another game between the Celtics and the Pistons that came
down to the wire. They have played three times this season.
All three games were tight coming down the stretch. The
Celtics pulled out the second one after the Pistons won
early in the season out in Detroit, and then this
one again goes down to the final minutes and it
could have wound up in either direction in the win
lost column. I am taking away from this that I
(05:50):
would love to see these two teams meet in the postseason.
To me, it's just a great matchup of two very
different teams that have very different strengths. On Boston set,
you've got an elite, elite wing scorer in Jalen Brown
who does the majority of his work inside the three
point arc. The Celtics also lean heavily into skill, and tonight,
(06:13):
by the way, they were missing some of that skill
when Sam Houser sprained his ankle and did not return
to the lineup. It's a big part that they didn't
have for the high majority.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Of this game.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
But that's what the Celtics lean into. They lean into speed,
they lean into skill, they lean into small ball when
Tomas Kida is not out on the floor, and they
lean into Jalen Brown doing what he's done all season long,
another thirty plus point performance. During this game, he scored
thirty four to lead I believe that was a game high,
(06:44):
and yes it was. Kate Cunningham had thirty two to
lead Detroit. So that's what the Celtics lean into. On
the other side of the ball, the Pistons lean into
Kate Cunningham being a huge guard who can score.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
From all three levels.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And then they lean into big, physical play right They've
got Jalen Duran around the basket, have been one of
the best big men in the league this season. Isaiah
Stewart is always a wrecking ball down around the rim,
and he was again tonight. Came off the bench and
gave the Pistons seven rebounds off the bench to go
along with seven points.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
A block shot.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That to me, those are the two things that the
Pistons love to lean into. Cad Cunningham and size and
physicality inside and really in general, this Piston's team is
pretty big. Even their wings are big, long, athletic, physical defenders.
So these are two very different teams, and yet somehow
(07:44):
they offset each other to a point where basically, well
not basically, it's every time they have met so far
this season, it's been a great basketball game. So just
imagine if we were able to get this in a
playoff environment out in Detroit, a city that's been starving
to see their basketball team come back and try to
compete for a conference championship and then here in Boston, obviously,
(08:06):
you know this place would love it if we were
playing against the Pistons team that remember, these two teams
went at it back in the eighties, okay, when Larry
Bird and Isaiah Thomas and all those guys were out here.
So I would love to see these two teams meet
in the playoffs. And it would just be even better
if the Celtics maybe potentially who knows, we have, no idea,
(08:26):
hasn't been spoken about, no speculation here, but what if
the Celtics did have number zero back? Would be a
lot of fun to see these two teams meet. All right,
let's dive into some comments from our fans. We've got
two of them tonight. First one up is from Quapped
on Boston's free throw struggles during this game. And then secondly,
we've got Staffy on this team's inconsistencies.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So far this season. All right, First one up, Quapped,
It's on you.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
My son's already in the car.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Bye, I thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
One cut your mobile bill in half and save sixty
five dollars a month for your first year with Expinity
Mobile Expinity imagine that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
All right, as promised, Quapped is up first and His
comment is, hit your damn free throws. Okay, straight to
the point, I understand it, Quapped, you usually are straight
to the point. I know you are a hardcore Celtics fan.
Appreciate you giving us a watch or a listen.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Uh. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
The Celtics struggled from the free throw line tonight. Okay,
nineteen of twenty seven as a team overall in the game.
And the big numbers here, and we don't want to
place any blame anywhere, but these are the numbers. Brown
shot just seven or fourteen from the free throw line tonight.
That's not good. Okay, seven to fourteen for Jalen Brown,
(10:06):
something that any of us have in particular this season.
He has been much better free throw line this year.
Tonight's game, he was a seventy nine pewter from the
free throw line on a career high seven point two
attempts per game, shooting almost eighty percent. Okay, on a
career high number of free throws per game. That's pretty
(10:30):
darn good. And then tonight somehow just wound up with
a clunker seven to fourteen from the line. He was
I believe four of six during the fourth quarter, but
those two misses during the fourth quarter felt so big, right,
you can't give away points during those critical moments. Sorry,
he was two for four from the free throw line
(10:50):
during the fourth quarter of the Celtics as a team
were four for six during the fourth quarter. But those
two misses from Jalen during that final frame came in
a moment where he met and then the Pistons scored
right after that. So it was a four point swing
with about three ish minutes left, and it just felt
like at that moment, Detroit was starting to build a
little momentum and was going to pull away and be
(11:13):
able to finish this off.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
But as a whole, not even just Jalen.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Nineteen of twenty seven from the free throw line, that's
not a good enough number. But I will say this, okay,
that I don't think that that's why the Celtics loss
this game. And the reason I say that is because
you can look on the other side of the ball
and the Pistons did the exact same thing, almost exactly
the same. They shot seventeen of twenty five from the
(11:39):
free throw line. Both teams shot just about seventy percent, okay,
So to me, that kind of offsets each other. I
don't think those seven free throws excuse me, those eight
free throws that the Celtics missed seven of them from
Jalen Brown. You know you're not going to shoot a
hundred percent from the free throw line. It's just not
going to happen. That very rarely happens, especially taking twenty
(12:00):
five plus free throws.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Per game as a team.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
So with that not happening in the Celtics not shooting
that super high percentage and then the Piston shooting basically
the same percentage, I cough it up as just okay,
these two teams basically did the same thing. It offsets
each other. The game was one and lost in other areas.
That being said, can't have Jalen Brown shooting seven or
(12:27):
fourteen from the free throw line. I know for a
fact that he's feeling that after this game, he's certainly
going to be upset with himself that he didn't perform
at a higher level from the free throw line. I
am confident that he will bounce back from that and
give us that eighty ish percent free throw percentage that
we've seen so far this season. Here again, moving forward,
But yes, some big misses tonight, in particular, those two
(12:49):
by Jalen during the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
But overall, you can't give points away. All right.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
If you got free opportunities at the free throw line,
you got to take advantage, especially when you're playing against
one of the best teams in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Second and final comment of the night coming in from
Stathi who says they've been too inconsistent this season.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
All right.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Actually, there's a few negative comments here that we're sent
in at to this game. And I understand the emotion
of losing a game, but you're playing against the best
team in the Eastern Conference. You came down to the
final minutes. Let's not get too upset. Okay, it's not
like the Celtics just didn't give any effort played terrible.
Now to the point of inconsistencies, I actually believe that
(13:38):
the Boston Celtics have been very consistent this season in
some of the most important factors. I touched on this already,
that the most important factor is playing with effort, playing hard. Okay,
when you've got a team that is not as stacked
with talent as it has been in the past couple
of seasons, you're not gonna win as you can't win
(13:59):
games as easy, right, You're gonna have to fight for
the games that you win. And to me, Joe Missoula
has done a great job this season of making sure
that his team is I know he doesn't like the
term bought in, but I believe they are bought in
on knowing that they have to give total, all out
effort all the time to be able to be a
(14:20):
good team. They've done that, like I actually think they
even played hard during this game. They just didn't make shots.
And that is the area where inconsistencies have shown up
to me tonight, during the third quarter. It's one quarter
that you go ice cold and things start to turn
on you. One for ten from three point range during
(14:41):
the third quarter, ten of thirty nine from three point
range for the entire game. Those are numbers that are
very difficult to overcome, especially when you're a team that
relies so heavily on three point shooting. This is one
of the better three point shooting teams in the NBA,
and as a result of not shooting well during that
(15:02):
third quarter, in particular a one for ten effort from
long range, Detroit winds up outscoring you by eight points
during that third quarter and again, that's where the momentum
started to build. That's where Detroit started to feel like,
all right, we found something here and we're gonna be
able to run with this into the winner circle. And
that's exactly what wound up. Happened, and Boston had led
(15:26):
during the third quarter by eight points, but then they
wound up trailing by six points. So we're talking about
a fourteen point swing during the third quarter alone, and
it was because of the inconsistencies with the shooting. That
is the one area where this team in particular has
had some inconsistencies this season. It's just shooting the ball.
(15:49):
More often than not, they have been pretty good. Okay,
you do away with those opening few games of the season,
take away these last couple they've been pretty good at
scoring the basket. The best offenses in the NBA. That
doesn't happen without being able to shoot the ball well. Okay,
But on certain nights and in certain moments like tonight,
(16:11):
during that third quarter, sometimes the team goes ice cold.
So that is an area that I think can just
improve just a little bit to not.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Have those dry spells.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
It just happened the other night when the Celtics lost
their last game, they were ice cold for the entire
second half, and now during this game, they go ice
cold during the third quarter and wound up allowing Detroit
to start gaining that momentum, which wound up propelling the
Pistons into the Winter Circle. So I actually think the
team has been very consistent this season with some of
(16:42):
the most important areas, mainly playing with effort and playing
hard all the time because you have to do that
to be competitive. And again, I repeat, they played hard
and with effort tonight. That's how they were competitive with
the best team in the East. What they didn't do
to night and where they were inconsistent was with their shooting,
(17:04):
and that's where it fell off during that third quarter,
and that's how the Pistons pulled away from the win
for the win. So now the Celtics have suffered a
couple consecutive losses. They lost to Milwaukee, a game where
you never want to give away a win against a
team that certainly had not been performing well so far
this season, and then tonight you give away a game
(17:24):
to Detroit when you just don't shoot the ball well
during the third quarter. Let's hope that things turn okay.
The Celtics, maybe some of Maybe there is something to
say about the Celtics only playing two games in eleven days,
Maybe the practices didn't keep them sharp. Who knows, But
they're gonna be back on the court again on Friday.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So that's the next game.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
We'll have another sound Off coming up both on YouTube
and your favorite podcast platforms. That is Friday night, after
the Celtics play host to the Miami Heat.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So that's our next game.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
We've only got a couple more before Christmas rolls around,
so make sure you tune in, send in your comments
after the final buzzer of that game Friday night, and
I'll be sure to include a couple of them in
the next episode of sound Off, presented by ex Spinity Mobile.
Thanks for listening or giving us a watch.
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