Celtics top Pistons 118 - 111 for their second win in a row

The infamous birthday celebration in LA seems to have really motivated Rondo. (Photo: Brian Babineau/Getty)

When the Pistons signed Josh Smith this summer, the potential of a Monroe-Drummond-Smith triple threat made some people really excited. That's now a project that has failed, but tonight that frontcourt combined for 68 points and 47 rebounds, outrebounding the whole Celtics roster by eight. That stat alone would indicate that the Celtics lost the game, right? Not so fast: The Celtics distributed the ball amazingly tonight and had a total of 38 assists and had only 5 turnovers. Even as a pro-tanker, I cannot stop myself from enjoying that immensely.

Every Celtic whose initials aren't made up of the first three letters of the alphabet had a great showing tonight. Jeff Green caught fire with 27 points (11-19 FG, 5-12 3pt), Kris Humphries (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Rajon Rondo (11 points, 18 assists) both had double-doubles, Kelly Olynyk has picked up from where he left with 18 points and 6 rebounds, and Jared Sullinger joined in with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Jerryd Bayless's 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and Phil Pressey's 6 assists, 2 steals and 1 block (take a shot!) were also valuable in the win.

The Celtics take on the slumping Pacers (oh the Eastern Conference, when will you stop surprising us?) on Tuesday. Rondo has been an awesome leader for the team since the Birthdaygate, and it wouldn't really shock me if the Celtics pull off a surprise win that night.

-----------------------------
For more of semioticus's articles, visit here.

To follow semioticus on Twitter, visit here.