BOSTON — With the Detroit Pistons trailing by 25 points less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Cade Cunningham drew a double-team and kicked it to rookie Ron Holland II for a wide-open corner 3-pointer.
Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porziņģis attempted to close out from the paint, but Holland’s 3-point attempt was already aloft with confidence.
It might have seemed insignificant at the moment, but that shot opened the floodgates for what would eventually become a 20-point fourth quarter from Holland.
Yes, the Celtics had their way with the Pistons in a 123-99 win that saw six Celtics players reach double-figure scoring. But even in a lopsided loss, this version of Holland had yet to be seen in a Detroit jersey.
The 19-year-old wing finished with a career-high 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting and 2 of 5 from 3-point range in just 21 minutes of action. Holland also was a minus-4 in the 24-point loss and offered a glimpse of the player he can blossom into during his fourth-quarter barrage. He scored with both hands around the rim, knocked down midrange jumpers, floaters and connected on triples to score on all three levels.
The No. 5 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft showed in Thursday’s loss his offensive upside. At 6 foot 8 with roughly a 6-10 wingspan, Holland can develop into that offensive wing the Pistons envision alongside defensive-minded wing Ausar Thompson. But Holland’s desire to win rather than lead Detroit in scoring was what stood out.
“I just really had a good scoring night,” Holland told The Athletic from TD Garden’s visitor’s locker room. “Granted, I did that and we still lost. We still have things we need to work on individually and together as a team.
“It feels good for me, obviously, but I’m going home with my film on things I could have done better individually and to help this team win. Because at the end of the day, the win is what’s important.”
While Holland was born in 2005 and has only 26 games of NBA experience, the perspective he possesses likely won’t allow for complacency. It also makes it difficult to put a finger on just how good he can become.
“There is no telling,” Cunningham said when asked about Holland’s potential. “He’s shown flashes of a lot of different things. He’s a worker, and with someone who works as hard as he does, there’s no cap that I can put on him. It’s all up to him. I’m excited to see him grow and we’re all excited to have him on our team because he just wants to win.
“He’s doing everything it takes to win and he’s going to continue to get better.”
Entering Thursday, Holland was averaging 5.6 points on 42.5 percent shooting and 3.0 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per game. But after the Boston game, Holland is now averaging 12.0 points on 55.8 percent shooting and 4.0 rebounds when he plays at least 20 minutes. With more minutes and opportunity, Holland is showing signs of comfortability — which can be elusive as a rookie.
But Holland attributed his boosted efficiency to his teammates.
“It’s easy to be able to play freely when you can trust the guys you’re on the floor with at all times to make the right play every single time,” Holland said. “I feel like we have a team full of dudes who do just that. That alone says it all.
“I was just in the right place at the right time. I was looking for guys, they were looking for me, and I just had one of those nights.”
Although Holland viewed it as “one of those nights,” his coach is hopeful that it won’t be a one-off performance.
“It’s still against NBA players,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said postgame. “Against a team who has a great system on both sides of the ball, and they understand what they’re doing. And it proved that he can be successful versus that. Hopefully, that leads to the confidence that kind of unlocks him a little bit and now he goes and he continues to build off of this.
“All of these things for our guys are steps. Ron is in the process of becoming the player we know he is going to be and having these moments can help catapult that.”
While Holland’s scoring was on full display through the final 12 minutes and was the brightest spot of the night for the Pistons, the area he felt he grew most Thursday was his mentality.
“Just moving on to the next play,” Holland said. “I mean, we had a lot of plays where we could’ve held our head down and could’ve gotten beat by 40. But what I love about this team is we don’t give up at all, no matter what the score is. Whether we’re up or down, we always find a way to continue to grow and play for each other.”
The Pistons fell to 10-16 with the loss, but Holland’s play was a positive point in what was otherwise a negative night for Detroit. And with the work Holland has put in behind the scenes thus far, his team felt he was due for a night like this.
“I think he did a great job of staying with it, staying locked in the whole night and I think he deserved a performance like that,” Cunningham said. “He’s been working his tail off, so that’s definitely going to give him more confidence to keep going.”
(Photo: Brian Babineau / NBAE via Getty Images)
