Gritty Pistons open home slate against winless Celtics

The Detroit Pistons began the regular season on the road. They'll spend plenty of time at Little Caesars Arena in the next few days, beginning with their home opener against Boston on Sunday afternoon.

The game against the Celtics will kick off a three-game homestand that includes contests against Cleveland on Monday and Orlando on Wednesday.

After a season-opening loss at Chicago, the Pistons went to Houston on Friday and displayed the type of grit that thrust them into last season's playoffs. Starting center Jalen Duren was ejected in the first half for throwing an elbow. Reserves Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland fouled out, yet they pulled out a 115-111 victory over the Rockets.

"I think our guys lived up to what our motto for the season is," Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "And what we wanted to do a good job of is controlling the chaos, and I think that's what you saw out there on the floor. Last year, there were times where things got a little muddy and we let our emotions get the best of us. I think tonight we did a phenomenal job of, when the things got messy, we didn't back down and shy away."

Cade Cunningham was bottled up most of the night but came through in the clutch while scoring a team-best 21 points. He said Detroit's physicality made the difference.

"That plays into how we want to play the game," Cunningham said. "That's our identity. We knew it was going to be a dogfight because of that, we knew they wanted to play physical as well. You just have to be ready coming into games like that. It was a great win for us."

Detroit snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Celtics last February. The Boston team that visits on Sunday has a very different look after the front office spent much of the offseason shedding big contracts.

The Celtics lost to Philadelphia and New York in their first two games. Coach Joe Mazzulla felt his club played better against the Knicks but not quite good enough in Friday's 105-95 defeat.

"We're 12 minutes closer," Mazzulla said. "We did it for 12 minutes last game, and I thought we did it for 20 to 24 today. So, 12 minutes closer. That's what we have to figure out, and I told the guys, 'There are teams that can ease into the season, there are teams that can do that, but we have to have a sense of urgency to developing the identity that we need.' And I thought they showed that in the second half."

Boston was outscored 42-14 in the second quarter, then made a strong comeback. New York's seven fourth-quarter offensive rebounds helped to prevent the Celtics from finishing off the rally.

"We've got to figure out how to come up with those," forward Jaylen Brown said. "We've got to get a little bit more nasty on the glass. I think that was a deflator for us. Every time we went on a run when we were coming back, the offensive rebounds. So we've got to find out how to be more consistent in that manner."

Brown is averaging a team-high 24.0 points through the first two games.