Jayson Tatum, Celtics on Wrong Side of Shocking Stat in NBA Opening Loss to Cade Cunningham, Pistons

The Boston Celtics did not start the 2026-27 season off on the right foot.

Boston blew a 22-point lead in Tuesday's 121-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday and found itself on the wrong side of a notable stat. Insider Keerthika Uthayakumar pointed out it was the team's biggest blown lead since February 2025, which was all the more notable since it was 38-0 last season when building a lead of 20 or more points.

What's more, the NBA announced Detroit's 22-point comeback marked the largest one on the first day of an NBA season since the play-by-play era started in the 1997-98 campaign:

It seemed like the Celtics were going to cruise to a statement win with Jayson Tatum dishing out assists and Paul George thriving in his first game in a new uniform. George finished with 38 points, five steals, five rebounds and three assists and set a franchise record for points in a debut.

However, it wasn't enough in large part because Detroit unleashed a 23-0 run in the fourth quarter to seize control in front of a raucous home crowd.

Celtics-Pistons Highlights

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Cade Cunningham led the way with 22 points, eight assists and four rebounds, while Ausar Thompson played excellent defense on Tatum.

Boston likely wouldn't have ruined George's incredible performance if Tatum played at his normal level, but he dealt with Thompson hounding him on plenty of shots. The Celtics star finished 6-of-23 from the field and 0-of-7 from deep, although he impacted the game with his passing with 11 assists.

It wasn't enough, and the Celtics ended up blowing a lead in a fashion they didn't do all of last season.