The Detroit Pistons are back in real action on Oct. 20 at 3 p.m., and the opener brings a familiar opponent to town in the Boston Celtics. The two teams have met 401 times in the regular season, with Boston holding the edge 257-144.
Detroit enters the season after finishing as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and there’s no soft landing here. The Pistons won three of four meetings against the Celtics last season, and this matchup brings plenty of high-end talent on both sides.
The first showdown to circle is the one at the top of the roster: Cade Cunningham against Jayson Tatum. Cunningham gets his first chance to go head-to-head with another elite player right out of the gate, and the key will be simple - who can get to their spots and score through tight defense.
Cunningham averaged 24 points and 10 assists while earning First Team All-NBA honors. Tatum, meanwhile, missed most of last season because of injury, then returned for 22 games and put up 22 points and 10 rebounds per game. Both arrive with something to prove, and the early-season measuring stick is obvious.
On the other end of the floor, Ausar Thompson is the name to watch when Boston has the ball. With Jaylen Brown gone, Tatum will now draw the best defender most nights, and Thompson is in line for that assignment in the opener. Thompson earned first-team all-defensive honors last season, and he’ll try to make life difficult for a scorer who can hurt teams at all three levels.
Tatum’s shooting and finishing make him a tough cover for anyone, but Thompson’s defensive profile gives Detroit a real answer. The added wrinkle for the Pistons is that Thompson’s offensive game has started to show up in the preseason, which could set him up for a bigger season.
Down low, the battle between Jalen Duren and Boston’s bigs could shape the game. Duren has been strong in the two preseason games he’s played, including a 24-point first half against the Timberwolves. The Celtics will throw Mitchell Robinson and Enemies Queta at him, and both are known for rebounding hard and bringing toughness.
Duren will need to meet that physical challenge head-on and show why he was an all-star last season. Rebounding is the stat to watch in that matchup, because if Duren wins those battles, Detroit’s offense and defense can both feed off it.
Opening night gives both teams a chance to start with a win, and these individual battles should help set the tone for another NBA season that tips off Tuesday.
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After the offseason trade of Jaylen Brown and a contract extension for Payton Pritchard, the Celtics entered the season with a clear expectation that his role would grow. Instead, the opener offered a familiar look. Pritchard came off the bench and was on the floor for 27 minutes, but his place in the offense never really changed in a way that suggested a new level of responsibility.
He still managed to score 17 points, tied for second on the team, but the way he got there looked more like last season than the next step Boston seemed to be promising. With limited involvement in the half-court and only one assist to show for the night, the question is already less about whether Pritchard can produce and more about how the Celtics plan to use him moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Kendrick Perkins Just Turned Up The Pressure On The Celtics
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Celtics Already Have A Starting Lineup Debate After Opening Loss
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There is already a case to be made for one of those shooters moving into the starting five to help create more spacing early in games, especially if the Celtics want a cleaner offensive rhythm out of the gate. The tougher part is figuring out who comes out to make room, and that decision will say plenty about how Boston wants to balance defense, energy and shot-making in the games ahead. [Read more 🡒]