Hitting the break on a high note: 10 Takeaways from Boston Celtics-Detroit Pistons

1. A year ago, the Boston Celtics had a long win streak snapped by the Detroit Pistons right before the All-Star break. It ended up not really mattering, as Boston made a run to the Finals anyway. But a year later, you can see some subtle, yet important differences between last season’s Celtics and this iteration.

Coming off a loss, a banged-up Boston team could have punted this game. Instead, a bunch of guys got out there, took a few more bumps, but also took care of business. Now, the Celtics hit the break on a high note.

No matter what the Milwaukee Bucks do tonight, the Celtics have the best record in the NBA. And they got there by taking almost every game just that much more seriously than they did a year ago. It’s not always noticeable, but almost exactly one year later, you can see the difference.

2. Jayson Tatum missed the Milwaukee game due to illness and he got off to a bit of a weird start in this game. Tatum was still effective, as he was getting inside for baskets against Detroit’s defense with regularity, but he couldn’t hit a jumper.

Then the third quarter happened, and Tatum started Tatuming all over the Pistons.

Tatum shot 9-for-11 from the field in the period, including 6-for-6 from behind the arc. After hitting a couple of layups to get warm after halftime, Tatum went to a hard jab dribble to set up this step-back three:

A couple of trips later, Tatum ripped a three off a screen from Al Horford:

Derrick White stole this offensive rebound before setting Tatum up for the second-chance triple:

Look at how long Tatum’s jab step is here to get James Wiseman rocking backwards before he steps back into another three:

Next time down the floor, Tatum uses the dribble to rock into a pullup over Wiseman again:

Tatum’s final triple of the quarter came in a 2-for-1 situation. He comes off the screen and pulls up for what should have been a four-point play:

Here’s the other thing about all of those shots and points: Boston needed them. The Pistons were hanging around and making it a game. Tatum kept them at bay, before getting some help to close it out late.

3. Marcus Smart made a bit of a surprise return. Smart said that instead of coming back after another full week off, he wanted to go into the break with a little momentum.

Smart made up for lost time, by making a bunch of Smart plays. He got started early by picking Killian Hayes’ pocket before finding Jayson Tatum on the break:

After turning it over,…