Heading into the second night of a back-to-back set, the Detroit Pistons’ road to getting their first win hit its toughest phase yet. On Saturday night, the Pistons hosted Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics.

Fresh off of an NBA Finals victory, the Celtics remain the NBA’s hottest team at the start of the 2024-2025 season. Meanwhile, the Pistons finished with the league’s worst record last year, and dropped their first two games of the season prior to their meeting with the Celtics.

The first half of action against the Celtics probably went just as many expected. Boston was taking care of business with a 20-plus-point lead. However, the Pistons have continued to prove this season that they are not a team that’s willing to lay down take a beating when the games get tough.

An early 23-point lead turned into a matchup that went down to the wire. The Pistons could smell victory, but they were beaten to the finish line in the final minutes.

After the game, Boston’s five-time All-Star Jayson Tatum critiqued the Saturday night opponent, noting that not only did he feel the Pistons had enough talent to compete before, but the additions of some key veterans certainly helped push them in the right direction.

“They added some vets, right? They got Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway, Tobias Harris. Some guys that have had success in this league and playoff runs, along with some young talent,” Tatum said.

“They lost all those games in a row last year, but it’s just because they were young. Not because they are not talented. They got a lot of talented guys over there that compete, that play hard, and are physical. Regardless of whatever their record is, we understood that coming into tonight and last year it’s gonna be tough. They are gonna play you tough, make it hard on you, they were young. Super young last year, and they’ve added some older guys, and they got JB [Bickerstaff] as a coach. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do this year.”

Boston defeated the Pistons 124-118 on Saturday night. Tatum wrapped up the game with 37 points in 38 minutes. The Cetlics superstar helped his team remain perfect to start the year, wrapping up the week with a 3-0 record.

With that win, Boston makes it ten in a row over Detroit. They’ll get Sunday off before hosting the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. Meanwhile, the Pistons will travel down to Miami to face the Heat on Monday night, hoping to collect their first win of the season.