BOSTON — The Celtics didn’t break much of a sweat on Thursday night in their runaway 123-99 win over the Pistons at TD Garden. The absences of Jayson Tatum and Sam Hauser gave a bigger opportunity to Boston’s bench in the victory and many players took advantage. Payton Pritchard led Boston in both points (27) and assists (10) with a double-double but it was his teammate that Joe Mazzulla singled out after the game for his impact: Luke Kornet.
“Luke’s physicality was a game changer for us in the middle of that first quarter on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla said. “With him, he does a great job of playing off — he can play by himself, he can play with KP, he can play with Al. When those different lineups are out there, we take advantage of his defensive versatility, but he does a great job playing off the other guys on the offensive end, and you kind of saw that with his screening, his cutting and his passing and his offensive rebounds. So I thought his physicality really helped us there in his first stint.”
Kornet played just 12 minutes in the victory but made the most of his stints. He was 5-of-5 from the field, leading to 12 points and added seven rebounds. He also was a plus-16 in his stints, helping Boston build a double-digit lead in the first quarter and expand it in the third quarter.
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Nearly all of his minutes came alongside Kristaps Porzingis in the victory and the big man enjoyed playing alongside the added bulk in the middle.
“I like it, to be honest,” Porzingis said. “Of course, like, there’s like pros and cons to both options, but of course, our rebounding is a little bit better. I can be a bit more aggressive and maybe, trust that there’s somebody else that can alter shots at the rim. That just gives me more confidence also. I think we can definitely play both ways and we can be effective and dangerous both ways.”
The Celtics likely went to the look more on Thursday night with a pair of their best wings sidelined but it certainly made life tough at the rim for the Pistons, a team that failed to make Boston pay beyond the arc. With the Celtics showing a little bit of a defensive drop-off compared to last year in the first 20 games, Kornet’s impact in the middle has been valuable alongside Porzingis or Al Horford.
“Those guys can all play off each other,” Mazzulla said. “They do a great job. Sometimes it’s a little slower because we’re trying to figure out the coverage, and the matchup, and who’s on who, and how we can get to our spacing, but their basketball IQ and their skill allows them to play, and we can take advantage of that versatility.”
A healthy frontcourt may continue to limit Kornet’s opportunities on certain nights but his chemistry with Boston’s regulars make him an appeal option. Horford only had to play 20 minutes tonight and that’s a number the team will want to keep down all year long. Kornet’s emergence should make that easy for Mazzulla.
