Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

BOSTON -- Other members of the 2015 NBA draft class are showing more promise than Detroit Pistons rookie Stanley Johnson, but with the 19-year-old being a major factor in three road victories in the past few weeks, the team is more than happy with its No. 8 overall pick.

Johnson's latest heroics came Wednesday night, when the Pistons took a 99-94 victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.

He scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and his three-pointer with 58.2 seconds left gave the Pistons a 96-92 lead and some breathing room. The Pistons (20-16) snapped a three-game road losing streak with the win.

Coach Stan Van Gundy afterward spoke of Johnson’s fearlessness -- a necessary trait to make plays on opponents’ home floors.

The 6-6 swingman, meanwhile, readily admits that he is in a hurry to reach his potential.

“I think, the type of player I can be, the player I want to be one day, I think I can do it now,” Johnson said. “When I was drafted here, they told me not to wait, they told me not to be a rookie, not to settle with being OK -- try to be great every night.

“So in my mind, I intend to be great every night.”

Johnson’s fourth-quarter performance Dec. 18 got the Pistons to overtime at Chicago -- a game the Pistons eventually won in four overtimes.

His first-half performance Dec. 22 helped erase an early double-digit deficit at Miami -- a game the Pistons eventually won, 93-92.

Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor and New York Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis are the top three rookies in the league. But Johnson is eyeing a great career.

“If I'm playing (the top teams) of the league to the bottom of the league, it doesn't matter. On a nightly basis, I can get it going at any point in time," Johnson said. "That's just my confidence, and it's part of the reason why I'm here.”

Mind over matter: Van Gundy sat Pistons center Andre Drummond for the last 6:13 against the Celtics for two reasons: The team was playing well and he was guarding against the Celtics’ aggressive intentional fouling of bad free throw shooters.

Van Gundy said Drummond is solid free throw shooter in practices. But it’s not carrying over to games. Drummond is shooting a career-worst 36.2% from the line.

"There's clearly a psychological component to it, and something that he's got to continue to work through, in terms of his mental practice and his routines and everything else, to get to the point that it will translate into games,” Van Gundy said before the game.

Van Gundy added: “I'm not going to say he's shooting 90% in the gym. He's not. But he can go in the gym every day and shoot 70%-plus. It just hasn't been able to translate into games, and that's something we're working toward.”

Note: The Pistons have assigned guard Spencer Dinwiddie to the team’s NBA Development League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Drive, for this weekend's annual D-League Showcase.

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.​