Boston Celtics vs. Detroit Pistons Live NBA Updates, Scores and Highlights

Both teams are turning the ball over left and right. Boston already has four.

There may be some jitters in play, but these are also two of the better and more active defensive teams in the league (or at least they should be).

The offenses should settle in at some point, but we're also likely in for a physical battle.

Celtics 11, Pistons 9 - 7:50 left in the first quarter

This five, with Tobias Harris in place of John Collins, started 42 games last season for Detroit. Bringing 80 percent of that group back gives the Pistons more continuity than just about any other team in the NBA.

And while that hasn't necessarily proved crucial in recent years, it's not hard to imagine the benefits.

For the most part, the Pistons know how to play with and off each other. Offensive chemistry should come quicker than it does for most other teams. And that should help Detroit prove doubters wrong.

The Celtics have a bunch of options for their starting lineup. Payton Pritchard, Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman all have arguments to be there.

But this one still makes plenty of sense. If you add Walsh to those three, he's probably the least in need of usage in the group. That makes him a good complementary piece around the big-shot-takers like Tatum and George.

And having all three of Pritchard, Scheierman and Gonzalez coming off the bench gives Boston a chance to have one of the best second units in the league.

The Pistons are coming off a 60-win season and have all of their best and most important players (Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson) coming back.

They lost Tobias Harris, but John Collins is five years younger and, at worst, statistically similar.

So, it comes as a bit of a surprise that Detroit's over-under for this campaign is just 48.5.

Of course, part of the calculus there is improvement throughout the rest of the conference. But an 11-12 win decrease also feels like a healthy dose of skepticism about the Pistons themselves.

Today, they get their chance to start proving the doubters wrong, and they can do it with a big performance against the Celtics.

To date, Jayson Tatum has had Jaylen Brown as a teammate for every season of his career. They won a championship together. They made it to five conference finals.

By just about any measure, Tatum and Brown made up one of the best and most successful duos of this era.

Now, Tatum is moving on without him. Boston is built more in the "one star and a great supporting cast" mold. And it's not hard to see why the Celtics chose to go in this direction.

Beyond the financial and team-building difficulties that come with trying to fit multiple stars under the second apron, Boston won over 50 games with essentially this same model and Brown in Tatum's spot last season.

Tatum, even if he just gets back to maybe 95 percent of the player he was pre-injury, is better than Brown. And Paul George, who came over in the Brown trade, should be able to provide more than Tatum did in 16 games last season.

Despite the reaction to that move, the Celtics are absolutely still in the title picture.