The defending NBA champions have smoothly achieved two wins in the first week of the season. On paper, the Boston Celtics seem ready to secure another victory by a wide margin on Saturday when they face the Detroit Pistons.
The Celtics have won their last nine matchups against the Pistons, who are currently 0-2 this season and are coming off the worst year in franchise history. Detroit’s last victory in this series was a close 112-111 win on February 16, 2022.
Boston kicked off its season with an impressive performance, defeating the New York Knicks 132-109 on Tuesday while matching the league record for 29 made three-pointers.
They followed that up with a 122-102 win on the road against the Washington Wizards on Thursday. The Celtics led by just one point after the first quarter but extended their lead to 10 by halftime. They outscored the Wizards 34-19 in the third quarter to secure the win.
“Once we settled into the game, it was great,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I think it just took a little while because of how fast those guys are, and then I think a little bit of malaise from a couple days ago. But we responded well.”
The team’s two star players have been performing well in the first two games. Jayson Tatum is averaging 31 points, 7.5 rebounds, and eight assists, while Jaylen Brown is contributing 25 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game. Brown scored a team-high 27 points on his 28th birthday on Thursday.
Tatum took advantage of some one-on-one situations against 19-year-old rookie Alexandre Sarr from the Wizards.
“It’s part of if you’re in Year 19 or Year 1, you’re on the court, you treat everybody the same, and that’s how it should be,” Tatum said. “You don’t take it easy on anybody. Nobody took it easy on me when I was 19.”
The Celtics are currently in a stretch where they play six out of seven games on the road.
Detroit lost its opening game 115-109 to the Indiana Pacers at home on Wednesday and then lost 113-101 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road on Friday.
Cade Cunningham scored 33 points and had six assists but also committed nine turnovers against Cleveland. The Pistons turned the ball over a total of 22 times in that game.
“When you turn the ball over against a good basketball team, you just get empty possessions,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Twenty-two empty possessions is hard to overcome.”
When Detroit managed to keep possession, they shot well. The Pistons made 46.9 percent of their field-goal attempts and 40.6 percent from three-point range.
Cunningham did most of his scoring inside the arc, hitting 14 of 24 shots overall but only 2 of 6 from long distance.
“I think we’re seeing what he’s capable of, how he can carry a team,” Bickerstaff said about his star player. “Obviously, we talked to him about the turnovers and he was aware of that, but I thought he had a great floor game.”
Cunningham’s backcourt partner, Jaden Ivey, scored 22 points, while guard Malik Beasley added 13 points off the bench.
The Pistons will need more scoring from Tobias Harris, who is averaging 11.5 points through two games after scoring 17.2 points per game for the Philadelphia 76ers last season.
