Pistons 121, Celtics 113

 

New look Celtics, same disappointing flavor.

Basketball's finally back, and the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons played the first game of the NBA season. The Celtics lost.

As everyone in the whole universe knows by now, Jaylen Brown is gone, sent off to Philadelphia, and former 76er Paul George now mans the frontcourt with Jayson Tatum in Brown's place. Former Knick Mitchell Robinson is filling in the Celtics long-overlooked center position. 

Today, Robinson was a big nothing, four points and three rebounds. George did all the heavy lifting, leading the team with 38 points and 7-for-12 three-point shooting. Tatum had only 13 points and was 0-7 on threes, but he did get 11 rebounds for about the weakest double-double possible.

It didn't have to be this way. The two teams were evenly matched in the first quarter, going bucket-for-bucket and ending, Celtics 28, Pistons 27. Then Boston broke loose in the second, outscoring the Pistons, 30-18, for a 58-45 halftime lead.

Then it all went to shit. Detroit outscored the Celtics, 37-30, in the third quarter and 39-25 in the fourth, including an absolutely humiliating 23-0 run mid-quarter. Did they run out of gas? Did Detroit figure out the optimal defensive strategy against them? Did they forget there are basketball plays other than randomly shooting from outside the three-point line? No one knows, and it's going to be a long season if someone in the Celtics organization doesn't come up with an answer.

And they better come up with that answer quick, because the next game is Friday night against the New York Knicks, reigning NBA champions and the team hungriest to establish early dominance over the Celtics this season.