Pistons Hand Celtics Third Straight Defeat

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Rodney Stuckey scored 27 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds, leading the Detroit Pistons to a 92-86 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.

Charlie Villanueva, who essentially replaced Wallace in the offseason, enjoyed spoiling Wallace’s first game as an ex-Piston at The Palace and scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. Wallace had 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting in the arena.

Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo each scored 21 points for the Celtics, who have lost three straight for the second time in less than a month. The Celtics are 4-8 since they had a 23-5 record after winning on Christmas at Orlando.

The Pistons won despite missing three key players: Ben Gordon (right groin), Tayshaun Prince (left knee) and Will Bynum (left ankle).

Boston did not have Kevin Garnett for the 11th time this season, but his right knee is expected to be healthy enough for him to play Friday at home against Portland. Even without their All-Star forward, the Celtics led by as much as 12 and were ahead by eight early in the third.

The Pistons responded with a 19-6 run that included seven points from Stuckey. Boston was ahead by five with nine minutes left, then Stuckey had six points in an 11-0 surge that set the Pistons up for the victory.

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