AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Reggie Lewis scored 9 of his 21 points in the third quarter and Brian Shaw added 19 Saturday to lead the Boston Celtics to their most lopsided road playoff victory, a 115-83 decision over the Detroit Pistons and a 2-1 lead in their second-round NBA playoff series.
Game 4 will is scheduled for Auburn Hills, Mich., Monday night and the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series is slated to return to Boston for Game 5 Wednesday.
Boston's margin of victory eclipsed the 25-point spread in a 135-110 road win over the Pistons on March 28, 1968.
The Celtics had dropped nine straight games on Detroit's home court, including all eight at The Palace, since a 79-78 victory at the Pontiac Silverdome in the 1988 Eastern Conference finals.
Kevin McHale came off the bench to score 16 points and Robert Parish and Dee Brown added 13 for the Celtics. James Edwards led the Pistons with 13 points and Bill Laimbeer and John Salley each scored 12.
Detroit shot only 33 percent from the field and the Pistons made only 47 percent of their free throws -- 17 of 36. Boston connected on 53 percent of its shots from the field.
Pistons guard Isiah Thomas, who missed Game 2 with a sprained right foot, started Game 3 but scored only 7 points on 3 for 13 shooting. Thomas had 4 assists.
Boston's Larry Bird, who missed Game 1 with back spasms, finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds, but shot only 4 for 11 from the field.
Boston, which led by 13 points at halftime, outscored Detroit 18-5 in the last 4:31 of the third quarter to take a 90-62 lead into the final period. McHale and Bird each had 5 points, including a 3-pointer, in the surge.
The Pistons fired in the first 6 points of the fourth quarter, but Boston answered with a 6-point run of its own and the Celtics' lead eventually reached 35 points.
Shaw scored 5 points in the last 40.5 seconds of the first half to help the Celtics open a 54-41 halftime lead, their biggest margin of the first half.
Detroit made 17 of 50 field-goal attempts in the first half -- 34 percent -- while Boston connected on 22 of its 44 shots from the field. Detroit also misfired from the free-throw line, missing 8 of its 15 attempts.
Boston's starting guards, Lewis and Shaw, outscored the Pistons' starting backcourt of Thomas and Joe Dumars 23-6 in the first half.
Shaw's running jumper with 5:51 left in the first quarter put the Celtics ahead to stay at 13-12. Boston scored the last 6 points of the first quarter on baskets by Kevin Gamble, Brown and Lewis to open a 27- 19 advantage.
