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Gordon, Pistons pull away from Celtics

Feb 16, 2012 - 6:36 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Ben Gordon scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Detroit Pistons pulled away to take a 98-88 victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

Rodney Stuckey paced Detroit with 25 points and Greg Monroe added 22 with nine rebounds as the Pistons snapped their two-game losing streak.

"I really thought it was a total team win," Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank said. "We had great production from everyone that played the game."

Rajon Rondo scored a career-high 35 points and added six assists and five rebounds for the Celtics, who were playing without Kevin Garnett due to a hip flexor, but it was not enough for Boston to avoid its third loss in four games.

The Pistons trailed, 49-47, at the half and stayed within two possessions for the entire third quarter until closing out the frame with six straight points to hold a 73-72 advantage at the end of the third.

Detroit then carried that momentum into the fourth quarter, opening the final stanza with a 14-4 run that included three three-pointers by Gordon to jump out to an 87-76 lead.

The Pistons increased their lead to 93-80 before Boston reeled off six straight points to make it a 93-86 game with less than two minutes remaining in the contest.

But Gordon put a halt to the spurt with his fourth three-pointer of the quarter and Detroit held a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.

"A disappointing loss to a team I thought we should have beat," Celtics forward Paul Pierce said. "The defense just let us down tonight. We just consistently couldn't get stops."

Detroit recorded the first six points of the game and kept the Celtics at arm's length until Boston ripped off a 10-0 run that included seven straight points by Rondo to jump ahead, 16-12.

The Pistons responded with a 6-2 spurt to tie the game at 18, and a back-and- forth final four minutes of the first ended with the Celtics taking a 28-26 advantage into the second quarter.

It remained a close game in the second, as neither team took a lead larger than three points until an 8-2 swing by the Celtics put them ahead, 45-38, with 2 1/2 minutes left in the half.

Detroit, though, answered with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 47 within the final minute before a Chris Wilcox jumper gave Boston a 49-47 edge at the break.

Game Notes

Detroit improved to 3-12 on the road this season, while Boston fell to 11-8 at home...The Pistons had dropped four straight and six of their last seven games against the Celtics entering the game...Pierce, Ray Allen and JaJuan Johnson scored 10 points apiece for Boston...Detroit outrebounded Boston, 44-33.