Mar 27, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) shoots a free throw during the third quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Boston Celtics won 96-92. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

On Wednesday night in Detroit, the Boston Celtics beat the Pistons 113-103. Detroit made nine more field goals than Boston did (45-36), and out-shot the Celtics from the floor 53.6 percent to 45 percent. The Pistons also grabbed four more rebounds (41-37) and dished out nine more assists (29-20).

So why then, did Detroit lose by 10?

Because Boston was 33-for-34 at the free-throw line. By comparison, the Pistons went 6-for-10. Andre Drummond (0-for-3) missed two more foul shots than the Celtics did, despite taking 31 fewer attempts.

Just how rare was Boston’s 97.1-percent performance from the line?

The Golden State Warriors made 39 free throws on April 4, but it took them 54 attempts (.722) to do it. A week before that, the Celtics knocked down 34-of-43 (.791) in a win over the New York Knicks. Connecting on that many freebies in a game is not very unusual, but to do it at the percentage Boston did against Detroit is extremely uncommon.

The last time a team hit 33 or more free-throws while missing just once was on Dec. 22, 2013, when the Oklahoma City Thunder did it against the Toronto Raptors. It’s a feat that had only happened 10 previous times in the last 22 years.

Basketball-Reference keeps track as far back as 1963-64. Since then, there are just 35 such occasions of a club hitting at least 33 free throws in a game at a 97 percent clip or better.

In that sense, the Celtics foul-line showing Wednesday might qualify among the top 35 of all time. However, there are any number of games in which a team went perfect at the charity stripe, but attempted fewer than 33 shots.

In this season alone, there are two instances of clubs going 26-for-26: The Minnesota Timberwolves did it on Jan. 10 against the San Antonio Spurs, and the Spurs pulled it off themselves on Dec. 20 vs. the Dallas Mavericks.

Strangely enough, of the top 16 free-throw games since 1990, half of them were recorded by a single team twice in the same year:

2013 Thunder: In addition to a 35-for-36 effort on Dec. 22, they also went 33 of 34 on Feb. 14.

2009 Sacramento Kings: 35-for-36 on Jan. 14, and 33-for-34 just 12 days earlier on Jan. 2.

1991 Warriors: A perfect 33 of 33 on April 11, and a 35-for-36 outing only eight days prior on April 3.

1990 Celtics: Boston posted two of the greatest free-throw shooting games of all time less than a month apart. On March 18 the Celtics went 33-for-33, and on April 12 they made all 35 of their attempts. Larry Bird and Kevin McHale each went 10-for-10 that day, while the late Reggie Lewis was 6-for-6.

Boston’s 35-for-35 team effort qualifies among the top three greatest foul-shooting games ever. The other two?

On Dec. 22, 2000, the Indiana Pacers went 40-for-41, but still lost to the Utah Jazz 109-101. Jalen Rose led the way at 15-for-15, while Reggie Miller chipped in a 10-for-10 as well. Jermaine O’Neal (4-for-5) had the only miss.

The undisputed best NBA free-throw performance on record took place on Dec. 7, 1982. The Jazz fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 137-121, but in the process made 39-of-39 foul shots. Danny Schayes was 14-for-14 and Adrian Dantley went 12-for-12. It comes as no surprise that this game included Dantley, arguably the most prolific free-throw shooter of all time.