Pistons, Celtics

The Morning Dunk: Celtics Narrowly Avoid Disaster vs. Pistons

The end of your work week has finally arrived, but The Morning Dunk is here to remind you through some of the best NBA news and highlights you'll find online that not all things are set to come to an end.

Just ask Detroit. 

Celtics Escape Embarrassment 

Of all the teams across the Association to be the one to finally end the Detroit Pistons' historic losing skid, it nearly looked like it would be the one with the overall best record. 

The Boston Celtics, sans the services of Jaylen Brown, escaped the TD Garden on Thursday night with a 128-122 overtime victory against a hungry and desperate Pistons squad which put forth one of their stronger efforts throughout their ongoing slide into the history books. 

Detroit actually led by as many as 21 points and needed to overcome a six-point deficit in the final 1:40 of the fourth quarter to even force the extra period. The aforementioned lead marked the largest of the season for Detroit. 

The 28th consecutive loss dropped the Pistons to 2-29 SU for the campaign and tied the 2014-15, and 2015-16 Philadelphia 76ers for the longest losing streak in NBA history. The overall record can be broken on December 30 when Detroit hosts the visiting Toronto Raptors. 

Haliburton Notches Historic Assists Line

Turnovers are overrated. Just ask Tyrese Haliburton.

The Indiana Pacers guard finished with 21 points and 20 assists in a 120-104 win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, becoming the first player since Chris Paul in 2016 to record at least 20 points and 20 assists without turning the ball over in the same game. 

Haliburton currently owns +4000 odds in the race for NBA Most Valuable Player, +650 for Clutch Player of the Year, and +2600 for Most Improved Player. 

Jokic Can't Miss With Latest Triple-Double

It's as close to a perfect triple-double as you'll see in today's NBA, and it could only come from a familiar source. 

Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic scored 26 points on a perfect 11-of-11 shooting from the field to go along with 14 rebounds and 10 assists in a blowout 142-105 win over the visiting Ja Morant-less Memphis Grizzlies.

Jokic becomes just the second player to ever notch a triple-double on perfect shooting with a minimum of 10 field-goal attempts. 

The triple-double was Jokic's 116th of his career, placing him fourth on the all-time list. He's currently second behind Joel Embiid (+200) at +250 for the best odds in the MVP conversation. 

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