But when it came time to reclaim the game, Allen was their guy. He had been cold all night, but the Celtics had 31 seconds left and one big opportunity to break an 82-82 deadlock to steal the win.
The C's had no misgivings.
"Not with Ray," said head coach Doc Rivers, who drew up the game-winning play. "Ray is a shooter. Shooters make shots."
Allen hit a jumper from the right win with 24 seconds to play, the Celtics got a stop on the other end, and seconds later they put the finishing touches on an 86-82 win. The Celtics scratched and clawed through 48 mediocre minutes, they shot 44.7 percent and turned the ball over 16 times, but in the end, they got the job done.
Lesson learned — you can't win 32 of your first 41 games without knowing how to win the ugly ones.
"It's experience, it's togetherness, it's being together and being in those situations," Paul Pierce explained. "That's really it. We look at the score, and we all know what to do. We know who we're going to get the ball to, we know how we're supposed to defend. We've been in those situations a number of times with the same group, so it's just normal right now. We know how to get things done."
Allen's game-winning jumper, and his performance as a whole, served as the perfect microcosm of the Celtics' night. The C's came out uninspired for the first three quarters, and the numbers showed it. The Pistons led by as much as eight points multiple times in the second half, and the Celtics didn't appear motivated to do anything about it. Allen, who had only five points before hitting the game-winner, had been off his game.
But the Celtics' problems didn't end with Allen. They were team-wide.
"Nothing was working tonight," Rivers said. "We were bad. Execution was bad, and as good as the ball moved [Monday against Orlando], it was the exact opposite tonight. I thought we massaged the ball all night. We always say shoot it, pass it or drive it, but don't massage it. I thought tonight, the ball should feel great. It got a great massage the entire game."
The Celtics overcame the deficit by doing what they do best — stringing stops together. They trailed 75-67 with seven minutes to play, but they followed up a Shaquille O'Neal inside bucket with an airtight possession to force a shot-clock violation. That triggered it — the rest of the way, the C's suffocated the Pistons at every turn, forcing them to settle for jumpers.
It was a whole new ballgame from there. The Celtics outscored the Pistons 19-7 down the stretch.
"I think in the second half, we're finding ways to get into a defensive rhythm," Kevin Garnett said. "The fourth quarter is where we peak, and all the things that happen in the three quarters before don't even matter. If we're still in the game, then the win is reachable, and this time, we felt like we had a chance to win, even when we got down. We kept our poise."
That's what the good teams do. The Celtics are now 32-9, three games up on the Miami Heat and four in the loss column, largely because they know how to win games like this one.
