Pistons vs. Celtics final score: No defense, no effort, no chance, Detroit falls 118-111

What happened

The Detroit Pistons were easily outclassed by the Boston Celtics 118-111 on Sunday, losing to a team that is clearly rebuilding and yet clearly better than the Pistons who still insist they are fighting for a playoff spot. Detroit trailed nearly the entire game with its rather uninspiring effort before Will Bynum and his patented fourth-quarter heroics made a win slightly possible but still out of reach.

Who stood out

Rajon Rondo. Rondo had zero turnovers and was able to compile more assists by himself (18) than the Pistons did as a team (17). Perhaps even more surprisingly, that didn't even account for half of Boston's total assists (38!), and the team also only committed five turnovers. The Pistons hadn't given up that many assists since 2000 and an opponent has only dished out 38 or more assists 11 times in Detroit's history. It also marked the first time in franchise history a team had 35 or more assists and five or less turnovers. It was an absolute passing clinic. Just another notch in this miserable season's belt.

Bullets

• Josh Smith managed to hit half of his 22 shots despite 15 of them being outside of eight feet. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. He finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and four turnovers.
• Greg Monroe took nine less shots than Smith but still managed 22 points thanks to a nice 6-for-7 night at the free-throw line. He also nabbed 14 boards and four assists.
• Andre Drummond was a beast with 18 points and 22 rebounds and yet it was just a kind of, oh yeah, typical Drummond as I was watching the game.
• Will Bynum is having his highest-scoring month since November 2009, averaging 13.4 points so far in March. He'a also doing most of his damage in the fourth quarter. Tonight, he used his relentless attacking style to get to the line 11 times in the final frame.
• I don't recall ever following a team this bad that also has this short of a bench, and the problem has gotten worse under John Loyer. The team runs out seven players -- the starters plus Rodney Stuckey and Bynum with mere scraps going to Jonas Jerebko and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who played a combined 7: 56 tonight. The starters play 38+ minutes seemingly every night and they still get blown out. Loyer ... PLAY THE YOUNG GUYS MORE. It's not what you're doing is working anyway.
• Rondo looked like a superstar, Jeff Green looked like an All-Star, Kelly Olynyk looked like a rookie of the year and Kris Humphries looked like an all-pro. Your 2013-14 Detroit Pistons defense, everybody!
• Everyone should have watched True Detective instead of this game.
• Box score

Roll Call