Jaylen Brown gave the Celtics everything he had in search of their first win of the season over the Pistons on Sunday — well, mostly everything.
Boston and Detroit squared off at Little Caesars Arena, with the Celtics chasing their first win after back-to-back losses defined by single-quarter defensive collapses. Brown took matters into his own hands, delivering 41 points — the 29-year-old’s 14th career 40-point explosion. He went 12-of-25 from the floor and sank 12 free throws, serving as the offense’s driving force en route to a front page-worthy performance.
But even after dropping 41 points on an efficient shooting clip, Brown admitted it wasn’t enough to cover all areas of need to get the Celtics across the finish line.
“I don’t know, but we gotta figure that out,” Brown said after Boston’s 119-113 loss in Detroit. “I think a lot of our issues can be solved just on the defensive glass — I gotta get more involved. I gotta get some more rebounds. A lot of long shots lead to long rebounds, so just timing. Some of the shots just keep bouncing over our head, or some of those guys just keep pushing us underneath. But rebounding is definitely the biggest issue for us right now.”
The ‘issue’ in question, which Brown highlighted, has already landed the Celtics 25th in the league in that department, averaging just 39 rebounds per game. That’s the third-worst mark in the Eastern Conference, with Boston ahead of only the Cavaliers (37.3) and Nets (36.7).
Trying to establish a frontcourt capable of holding its own has backfired on the Celtics for three straight games. Payton Pritchard, the shortest player on the roster at 6-foot-1, led the team in rebounds with 10. He had six by halftime, matching both Neemias Queta — Boston’s starting center — and Brown for the night. That’s a problem. The team knew coming into the season that outworking opponents needed to be a cornerstone of its identity, yet consistency has been the Celtics’ biggest enemy. And unfortunately for President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, cloning four more copies of Hugo Gonzalez isn’t an option — at least not with current technology.
That means the onus is on the Celtics to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and, like Brown, take a hard look in the mirror on their flight from Detroit to New Orleans.
Starting a season off 0-3 might not seem like a big deal, but it’s unlike any the Celtics have seen in a while. The last time Boston opened a campaign with three straight losses was 12 years ago, when Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, and Jared Sullinger made up the starting lineup for the 2013-14 Celtics. That team finished 25-57, paving the way for Boston to land Marcus Smart in that summer’s draft lottery.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla hasn’t seen his team lose three straight games since 2023. Though when Mazzulla steps back and looks at the bigger picture, he honestly couldn’t care less.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mazzulla said. “What matters is we continue to stick to the process of trying to win. You know, we had a 17-point lead today. We got to close the second quarter better. Obviously, the fouls and the rebounds at a certain time. So I thought that our effort was we played a complete game with effort. Now we gotta play a complete game with effort and execution, regardless of that.”
Detroit became the latest team to crush Boston in the rebounding margin, this time outdoing the Celtics with a 55-38 advantage that featured 19 offensive boards.
Mazzulla played Chris Boucher, Josh Minott, and Luka Garza off the bench, and that trio combined to corral four rebounds — that’s one more than Pritchard managed to collect on the offensive side of the glass.
“Everybody starts the year off about togetherness and getting through difficult times when no one anticipates it happening,” Mazzulla added. “They always think it’s going to happen later than sooner, but it happened now, so we’ve got to chip away at it.”
Pritchard added 21 points to follow Brown’s 41, and Boston’s defense held the Pistons to just 9-of-34 (25.6%) from three, offering a few bright spots in an otherwise gloomy defeat. The Celtics weren’t blown out, either, suggesting that a few adjustments and some tightening up could be the difference between a 0-3 start and a 3-0 Celtics team.
That’s the mindset they’ll need to implement moving forward if they want to leave Sunday night’s trip to Detroit right there in the Motor City.
“It’s early in the season. We’re still figuring out a lot of stuff,” Brown admitted. “Obviously, it’s not what people wanna hear, especially in Boston. It’s not an excuse, but it takes time. It does. I’ve said that before the season starts. It takes time to figure it out, and this is a part of it. It’s unfortunate. All three games, I feel like, were winnable. I didn’t play my best last game. Tonight, we got a valiant effort, but just not enough. We gotta figure it out and just focus on getting one.”
