NBA : Douglas Comes Off Bench to Lift Celtics Over Pistons

Sherman Douglas found his offense Sunday.

Douglas came off the bench to score 18 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-91.

Still without injured Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, the Celtics relied heavily on their bench and broke through the NBA’s stingiest defense, which had given up only 97.6 points a game.

“It was the first time since last year that my offense was there,” said Douglas, who held out most of the season before being traded by the Miami Heat to Boston on Jan. 10. “I’ve been working on my jump shot and when I get that going, I’m going to be dangerous.”

With Douglas, who added five assists in 18 minutes while replacing starter John Bagley, leading the way, the Boston bench totaled 42 points. Joe Kleine and rookie Rick Fox had 10 apiece.

The Celtics outscored the Pistons, 12-2, in the last 3 1/2 minutes for their fifth victory in six games.

“Another super effort,” Boston Coach Chris Ford said. “Our defense was constant. It was a team effort. And it was exciting.”

Said Detroit Coach Chuck Daly: “They boxed out and came hard defensively, but you’ve got to score in this league, you can’t just rely on your defense. They made some big shots, some of them were almost impossible.”

The Celtics outrebounded the Pistons, 45-36, and turned 18 Detroit turnovers into 31 points.

“We did a great job clogging up the middle and keeping them on the perimeter,” Boston’s Reggie Lewis said.

Kevin Gamble, starting in place of Bird, led the Celtics with 20 points and Robert Parish had 18 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth consecutive double-double since sitting out two games because of a twisted ankle.