There would usually be little reason for concern, but after a tumultuous two games that saw the Celtics cough up 18- and 28-point leads in home losses to the Lakers and Clippers, the Garden crowd became uneasy as it started to happen again on Wednesday night.

Boston led the Detroit Pistons by 28 points with just 9 minutes, 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter, a margin that should be insurmountable with that much time remaining, regardless of whether a team’s shoelaces were untied or not.

But just about six minutes later, the advantage had been sliced to 10. Many fans already had left by this point, confident that a win was imminent, but those that remained murmured.

“It felt a little bit like the Clippers game, especially in the building,’’ Celtics forward Gordon Hayward said. “You could feel it. The crowd was getting antsy.’’

But then Al Horford and Marcus Morris hit back-to-back 3-pointers, steadying their team a few steps before it felt like another disaster could actually be possible, and the Celtics held on for a 118-110 win.

Boston now heads to the All-Star break with a 37-21 record that looks much better thanks to the past two games. After the disheartening collapses against the Lakers and Clippers that led to more locker room dissension — this time Morris calling out the team for its apparent lack of cohesion — Boston rebounded with wins against the 76ers and Pistons on consecutive nights, both without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving.

Now, instead of stewing over all the things that have gone wrong, the Celtics can focus on some of the things that are apparently starting to go right. And they can enjoy their quick getaways to places that are warmer than Boston.

“We’re still fighters, man,’’ guard Marcus Smart said. “That’s it. We’ve been hit with a lot of adversity and we’re going to continue to, but we keep finding ways to overcome it and we keep finding ways to come out with victories. And we keep fighting with what we have. With all the distractions and noises going on, we’ve got guys stepping up.’’

Hayward’s ability to do that is probably most important. Nothing defined the Celtics’ start to this season more than the former All-Star’s struggles to regain his form. And he has now completed his best three-game offensive stretch of the season, averaging 21 points on 19-for-30 shooting. He had 18 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds against Detroit.

Horford had 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists, and Jayson Tatum added 19 points. Irving missed his second consecutive game because of a knee strain and Terry Rozier and Robert Williams sat out because of illnesses.

For Detroit, which had won four games in a row and is tussling for a playoff spot, Blake Griffin had 32 points and eight rebounds and Andre Drummond had 21 points and 17 rebounds.

The Celtics enter the break tied with the 76ers for fourth place in the East, just one game behind the third-place Pacers, who could be vulnerable down the stretch without their injured All-Star point guard, Victor Oladipo. It is not quite where the Celtics expected to be at the start of this anticipation-filled season, but it’s not awful, either. And, at least for now, the team is headed in the right direction again.

Wednesday’s game was filled with massive runs by both teams. The Pistons’ 17-0 burst in the first quarter was followed soon after by an 18-0 flurry by the Celtics that included 3-pointers by four players.

That helped Boston to a 57-52 halftime lead despite Griffin’s 20-point first half in which he made 8 of 10 shots and 4 of 5 3-pointers, two from beyond 30 feet.

The third quarter mostly slogged along with one free throw after another, with 16 total fouls. But the Pistons missed plenty of theirs, and the Celtics sprinkled in some 3-pointers to gradually pull away.

Smart, who had missed 20 3-pointers in a row dating to the first quarter of the Lakers game, hit four straight in the third quarter, a flip-flop of extremes that few other players can provide.

“Yeah, finally,’’ Smart said with a smile, “especially after last night’s performance. I don’t know what was going on.’’

Smart’s fourth 3-pointer, with 2:03 left in the third, gave Boston an 85-68 lead. He airballed his next one, naturally, but by that point it didn’t seem to matter much.

Before the third-quarter buzzer Smart grabbed an offensive rebound and tossed the ball in as he was falling down. He jumped back to his feet and put both hands in the air, either to signal that it had surprised him, or to coax the crowd, or perhaps both. That ignited an 11-0 run that carried into the fourth quarter and made it 100-72.

As the Celtics have shown over the past week, though, no big lead is safe these days. The Pistons went on a 20-2 run that included plenty of sloppy play by Boston, as Detroit pulled within 102-92 on a steal and dunk by Drummond with 4:16 left. But this time, the Celtics were able to right themselves in time.

“This was a good two days for this group,’’ coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought it showed a lot of good character.’’

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.