The Celtics secured their most impressive win of the season without one of their most important players.
Starting center Neemias Queta missed Wednesday’s matchup with the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons with an ankle sprain, and Boston survived without him, holding on for a wild 117-114 victory at TD Garden that snapped Detroit’s 13-game winning streak.
Though veteran Luka Garza got his first start of the season in Queta’s absence, the Celtics big man who logged the most minutes in the Thanksgiving Eve upset was Amari Williams.
Who is Amari Williams? He’s a 23-year-old, 6-foot-11 center out of Kentucky whom Boston selected 46th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. Williams is on a two-way contract, and before Wednesday, the vast majority of his limited professional experience had come in the G League. He’d played 218 minutes across seven appearances for Maine and just seven in two garbage-time cameos for the big club.
But with Queta unavailable, Williams more than doubled that total against Detroit, checking in midway through the first quarter and logging 15 minutes in his first real taste of NBA action.
Williams grabbed just three rebounds, scored one point and finished as a minus-10, but he blocked two shots and competed against an imposing Pistons frontcourt that features one of the league’s top young centers (Jalen Duren) and his uber-physical backup (Isaiah Stewart).
“I thought he was great,” Derrick White said. “I mean, Duren’s one of the best bigs in the league right now. (Between) him and Stewart, it’s a physical game down there, and he came in, held his own, changed some shots around the basket, blocked some shots and gave us some really good minutes in there when we needed them. So credit to him to come in — he was with us in practice yesterday — but to come in his first (real minutes). ‘Welcome to the NBA, you get Jalen Duren. Figure it out.’”
The top trait on Williams’ pre-draft scouting report was his passing ability, but he also was a three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year at Drexel before transferring to UK for his final season. Jaylen Brown, who scored a team-high 33 points in the win, said he was impressed by the rookie’s composure.
“That was impressive from Amari, I’m not going to lie,” Brown said. “He hasn’t been with us. A lot of pressure, high-profile game. To come in and make an impact, credit to him. But he did well for us. Amari has talent. He can pass the ball. He’s a big guy, knows the game. But that was a big-time performance for him.”
Williams’ contributions, head coach Joe Mazzulla said, were a credit to the alignment between the Celtics and their G League club, which is coached this season by former Boston point guard Phil Pressey.
“To me, it starts with Amari just being able to play those 15 minutes,” Mazzulla said, “and then it trickles down to the connectivity of Maine, and the work that Phil does, and their assistants, and then just our player development staff, just the continuity for the ability for a guy to step right in and know the plays, know the coverages, all the pregame work that the player development staff does on the court. And then with personnel, that’s just kind of a testament to the alignment — one, to Amari’s mindset, but also to the staff. So I think all those things combined felt just as comfortable for him to be on the floor tonight. I thought he did some good stuff.”
Garza played just 11 minutes in the game — one shift at the start of each half — and reserve bigs Chris Boucher and Xavier Tillman both were healthy DNPs. The Celtics played much of the game without a traditional big on the floor, utilizing wings Josh Minott (6-foot-8) and Jordan Walsh (6-foot-7) as small-ball centers for long stretches.
The Pistons racked up 21 offensive rebounds — including six by Duren, four by Stewart, four by Ausar Thompson and three by Cade Cunningham — and outscored the Celtics 42-22 in the paint and 27-18 on second-chance points. Boston was able to offset that disparity by making a season-best 47% of their 3-pointers (20 of 43) and scoring 20 points off turnovers.
“We’re tiny out there, but just got to find a way,” said White, who scored 25 of his 27 points in the second half. “And obviously, Josh and Jordan, they get to guard the fives and stuff like that, so credit to them for just competing at a high level. Sometimes, we have lineups that you’re out of position but just try to find a way, and then we can get stops, we can get rebounds, and are able to just spread it out offensively. Those guys have done a lot of great things for us this year and compete every night, so we’ve got a lot of faith and trust in them.”
White breaks out
Some notable numbers on White’s second half against Detroit: His 25 points after halftime equaled his highest total from any full game this season, and his six made 3-pointers were more than he’d hit in any contest since last season’s playoffs.
White went 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-8 from three over the final two quarters. He and Brown combined to score 20 consecutive fourth-quarter points to help Boston hold off Cunningham and the 15-3 Pistons.
It was the kind of breakout the Celtics had been waiting for from their veteran guard, who’s struggled to score consistently this season against opponents that don’t need to worry about containing injured superstar Jayson Tatum. White entered the game shooting 35.3% and 30.3% from deep, both of which would be career lows.
“Derrick, whenever he’s not playing well, I kind of get excited because I know when he comes out of it, the other side of it is so much better,” Mazzulla said. “That’s just the trust that I have in him as a player, and that’ll never waver.”
White has been a reliable playmaker on defense amid his slump, and that continued Wednesday with another three steals and one block. Mazzulla singled out White’s chasedown steal against Jaden Ivey in the second quarter as one of the game’s pivotal plays.
“The two plays that I think changed the game — and really this is a credit to the city and the Garden is we’re 9-8 and haven’t probably played as well as we wanted to have — but Baylor (Scheierman) jumps on the floor for a loose ball, Derrick sprints back the full length of the floor and gets the back tip, and the entire energy in the Garden shifts,” the coach said. “I think the city, the Garden, appreciates — regardless of record or result — they just appreciate that type of mindset, that type of effort, and that’s what we brought.
“I think those two plays in particular, and when Derrick made that play, I knew he was going to snap out of it. So it’s just a credit to him.”