The Detroit Pistons opened the season by pounding the Boston Celtics with a 23-0 run in the fourth quarter, and that burst did more than just finish off a win. It also covered up some of the same offensive problems that can still show up when the game slows down.
For long stretches, Detroit’s offense was messy. The ball stuck, Cade Cunningham was forced into traffic in a packed paint, and the flow disappeared. It had that familiar feel of a team that still doesn’t have a clean answer when the half-court game turns into a grind.
That question is still sitting there: Who is the Pistons second scorer?
The issue popped up hard in the second and third quarters, when the half-court offense was downright ugly. There was not much movement, Cunningham handled the ball too much, and Boston was barely even guarding Ausar Thompson.
Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green gave Detroit major nights, but a lot of the scoring came from defense, broken possessions and early offense. The Pistons used their energy on the other end to drag themselves back into the game, but they still were not consistently executing in the half court.
Some of that is just the reality of working new players into the rotation. Some of it is the same old issue Detroit has been dealing with: how to generate offense when Cunningham is getting swarmed.
That is not a problem that disappears overnight, and it is one that could matter a lot more later. The Pistons can win plenty of regular-season games by leaning on defense, but in the playoffs they may still be asking that unit to do too much if the half-court offense does not become more reliable.
Still, there is a clear reason for optimism. Even with the offense going through rough patches, Detroit beat a very good team and did it in a more balanced way, with a big portion of the work coming while Cunningham was on the bench.
The Pistons also fired 40 3-pointers, which was 10 more than their average last season, and knocked down 38 percent of them. The Celtics may be the team most closely associated with 3-point shooting, but Detroit kept up.
As usual, the Pistons controlled the boards and points in the paint, but this time the shot profile was more spread out. That extra perimeter volume gave them another path, and eventually the 3-point shooting became the thing that carried them home.
The half-court questions are still there, and Detroit is still searching for the second scorer next to Cunningham. But the new-look Pistons have more room to survive those ugly stretches if they can keep getting and making more 3s wherever they come from.
In Other News...
Pistons Opener Hinted At A Change Fans Have Wanted For Years
The Pistons entered the 2026 offseason determined to modernize an offense that too often settled for too few threes, and their regular-season opener against the Celtics offered the clearest sign yet that the message may have landed. Detroit launched 40 three-pointers in a 121-113 win, a sharp jump from last seasons 30.8 per game, and the shot profile alone looked different enough to catch the eye even before the comeback from a 22-point hole.
Duncan Robinson, Javonte Green, Isaiah Joe and Kevin Huerter all factored into the spread-the-floor approach, giving Detroit the kind of perimeter volume fans have wanted to see for years. One game does not make a season, of course, but after spending the offseason talking about the need to improve from deep, the Pistons at least gave themselves a template worth watching closely as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]
John Collins Already Has The Pistons Facing A Tough Defensive Question
John Collins first night in a Pistons uniform offered an early glimpse of both the upside and the problems Detroit will have to sort through. He gave the team some useful minutes with a block and a few offensive rebounds, the kind of activity that can matter in a game where every possession counts. But the bigger takeaway came on the other end, where Collins had a rough time holding up defensively in his new setting.
Detroit tried to work around it by shifting Collins to center, hoping the matchup would settle in, but the adjustment did not really solve the issue. Paul George found room to score against him, and the problem only looked more complicated when bigger opponents came into play, including Mitchell Robinson. For a Pistons group trying to piece together lineups early, Collins fit may end up being defined less by what he can add and more by how they hide what he gives up. [Read more 🡒]
Pistons Just Turned Bostons Big Debut Into A Celtics Problem
Bostons season opener quickly turned into a reminder that early NBA games can still say plenty about where a team is headed. The Celtics built a 22-point lead against Detroit, only to let it slip away in a loss that had Jayson Tatum finishing with 13 points on rough shooting while Paul George carried the offensive load with 38 points and also made his presence felt on the defensive end.
Social media did what it always does after a collapse like that, with fans split between frustration at the coaching and player execution and calls to remember how long the season is. From Detroits perspective, it was the kind of result that can travel well beyond one night, because handing Boston an opener like that immediately changes the tone around the Celtics and gives the Pistons an early jolt of attention. [Read more 🡒]