Observations and Thoughts About the NBA's Opening Night Tripleheader
The NBA's 2026-27 season opened with an NBC tripleheader starting at the odd time of 3 p.m. EST; either NBC is targeting an audience that does not work regular 9-5 hours or NBC believes that 9-5 workers will find ways to watch while they work.
In a matchup of the top two seeds in the 2026 Eastern Conference playoffs, the Detroit Pistons overcame a 22 point deficit to defeat the visiting Boston Celtics. In the second game, the Philadelphia 76ers took the lead with a strong third quarter run and held on to defeat the 2026 NBA champion New York Knicks. The tripleheader concluded with the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder building a 26 point second quarter lead and cruising to a comfortable win versus the San Antonio Spurs in a 2026 Western Conference Finals rematch.
Here are some observations and thoughts about each game:
Game One: Detroit Pistons 121, Boston Celtics 113
1) This game showcased the modern NBA at its best or worst, depending on your perspective about high volume/high variance three point shooting: the Pistons shot 4-18 (.222) from three point range in the first half and 11-22 (.500) in the second half, while the Celtics shot 8-20 (.400) from beyond the arc in the first half and 9-22 (.409) in the second half. During the NBC broadcast, much was made about the Pistons' second half three point shooting, but overall the long range bombing canceled out: the Celtics finished 17-42 (.405) from three point range, while the Pistons shot 15-40 (.375) from beyond the arc.
The reality is that the team statistics were comparable except for three categories: the Pistons outrebounded the Celtics 49-39, the Pistons shot 28-32 (.875) from the free throw line while the Celtics shot 16-21 (.762) on free throws, and the Pistons outscored the Celtics 44-34 in the paint. Those numbers indicate the decisive difference in this game: the Pistons were more physical and the Pistons did a better job attacking the paint/defending the paint. Physicality and paint presence matter, no matter how much some people scream about "pace and space."
2) Three Pistons scored at least 20 points: Jalen Duren (22 points, nine rebounds), Cade Cunningham (22 points, team-high eight assists), and Duncan Robinson (21 points).
Duren's contract extension negotiation was a major offseason story for the Pistons; after an outstanding 2025-26 regular season, Duren disappeared in the playoffs, which made the Pistons disinclined to sign him to a max level extension. Duren signed a five year, $200 million extension ($87 million less than the "super max" for which he was eligible), and it will be interesting to see not only if he can duplicate his regular season production but--more importantly--how he plays in the postseason.
Cunningham has emerged as one of the NBA's elite players. The Pistons would benefit if they develop or find a secondary ballhandler to take some of that burden off of Cunningham, which would perhaps mitigate his main weakness: he needs to take better care of the ball; he had a game-high five turnovers in this game after leading the 2026 playoffs with 5.6 tpg, nearly 1 tpg more than notorious playoff turnover machine James Harden.
Robinson had three first half points on 1-4 field goal shooting before playing a major role in the Pistons' second half rally. In the second half, Javonte Green (19 points in 18 minutes after not playing in the first half), Robinson (18 points), and Cunningham (14 points) combined to score 51 points, nearly matching the entire Celtics team (55 points) by themselves.
3) Paul George excelled in his first game with Boston, pouring in a game-high 38 points on 12-21 field goal shooting. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard added 17 points each. Jayson Tatum dished for a game-high 11 assists while committing just two turnovers, but he struggled from the field, scoring 13 points on 6-23 field goal shooting. He also had just four rebounds, well below his usual standard.
4) The Celtics led 58-45 at halftime before extending that margin to 72-50 at the 8:32 mark of the third quarter. The Pistons slashed that lead to three just before the end of the third quarter and only trailed 88-82 heading into the final stanza.
The Pistons used a 23-0 fourth quarter run to turn a 99-89 deficit at the 8:19 mark to a 112-99 lead with 3:33 remaining. Robinson scored 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Pistons outscored the Celtics 39-25 overall, but note that the Pistons also won the fourth quarter rebounding battle 16-8 while the Celtics shot 3-11 (.273) from three point range. Dominating the boards while shutting down three point shooting is a great recipe for winning in general, and for beating the three-point reliant Celtics in particular.
NBA games often have an ebb and flow to them; rhythm can be elusive to sustain, and good teams will usually make a run after they fall behind. Consistent defense and rebounding enable teams to survive lulls.
Game Two: Philadelphia 76ers 106, New York Knicks 100
1) Championship Ring Night is special. It was great to see the New York Knicks include legends Walt Frazier, Earl Monroe, and Bill Bradley in the ceremony, along with Willis Reed's widow Gale and Dave DeBusschere's son Peter. Mike Breen hosted the pregame festivities as the Knicks' coaching staff and players received their rings.
When the Cleveland Cavaliers fired Mike Brown in 2010, I compared Brown to a previous Cleveland coach who found championship success later in his career: Bill Belichick. When the Sacramento Kings fired Brown in 2023, I noted that this was just the latest in a long line of bad moves by a dysfunctional franchise. Now, Brown has a championship ring as a head coach to go alongside the four championship rings he won as an assistant coach (2003 with San Antonio, and 2017, 2018, and 2022 with Golden State).
Not surprisingly, Jalen Brunson received the loudest cheers. After getting his championship ring and before the game began, Brunson spoke to the Madison Square Garden crowd, thanking the fans for their support while saying that now the team must turn the page on last season while hoping to have another ring ceremony next year.
2) Prior to this game, NBA champions posted a 63-16 record in their first regular season home game after winning the title, including a 23-7 mark in the past 30 years. Last year, the Knicks bullied the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-111 in their season opener. It was reasonable to believe that the Knicks--with their championship pedigree and roster continuity--would beat the 76ers, a team that transformed their roster this offseason and that has not advanced past the second round of the playoffs since 2001.
3) Tyrese Maxey scored a game-high 28 points on 9-19 field goal shooting. He also had five assists and a game-high tying three blocked shots. The 76ers' two veteran acquisitions both played well: Jaylen Brown had a good all-around game (19 points, eight rebounds, six assists, game-high +17 plus/minus number), and LeBron James contributed 14 points along with nine rebounds and a game-high seven assists that offset his 5-13 field goal shooting. Joel Embiid scored just 13 points on 4-15 field goal shooting, but he had a team-high 11 rebounds plus six assists and a game-high tying three blocked shots; his shot selection was questionable at best as he often drifted passively around the perimeter, and he had a game-high tying four turnovers, but his +13 plus/minus number indicates that the 76ers did well overall when he was on the court. Not surprisingly, fifth starter V.J. Edgecombe had a quiet game (nine points, four rebounds, one assist) as his more famous and more experienced teammates understandably dominated the ball.
The 76ers did not exactly set the world on fire with their 37-89 (.416) field goal shooting, but they outdid the Knicks, who shot just 35-94 (.372) from the field. Brunson scored a team-high 21 points on 6-19 field goal shooting, but he only had three assists and he was uncharacteristically quiet in the fourth quarter with the game up for grabs (two points on 1-5 field goal shooting). Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points plus 12 rebounds, but he did not have the impact as a playmaker (one assist, game-high tying four turnovers) that he had during New York's sensational 2026 playoff run. Former 76er Andre Drummond added 12 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, and a team-high tying four assists off of the bench, but he only had two points in seven minutes in the second half. Landry Shamet had five points and a team-high tying four assists; the fact that Drummond and Shamet led the Knicks in assists suggests that the 76ers did a good job of shutting down the Knicks' primary offensive creators.
4) The Knicks led for most of the first half and pushed the margin as high as 10 points before settling for a 58-54 halftime edge. The game shifted in the final 2:44 of the third quarter when the 76ers went on an 11-0 run to go ahead 83-76 heading into the fourth quarter. The 76ers led the rest of the way, though the Knicks pulled to within 96-95 on a deep Towns three pointer with 4:37 remaining. The Knicks outrebounded the 76ers 53-45, but they squandered those extra possessions with their poor shooting.
Neither team is in playoff form, but this is an encouraging debut for a 76ers squad that could be expected to start slowly while incorporating Brown and James into the lineup. Brown's defense on Brunson down the stretch was very good.
Game Three: Oklahoma City Thunder 116, San Antonio Spurs 104
1) This was the mythical "game eight" continuation of the seven game Western Conference Finals that these teams contested five months ago--but a game seven win counts for a lot more than a "game eight" win. Still, this game is a measuring stick for both teams: the Thunder wanted to prove that at full strength they are better than the Spurs, while the Spurs wanted to maintain their dominance over the Thunder as a prelude to returning to the NBA Finals to finish last season's unfinished championship task.
The Spurs were missing Tobias Harris, their major offseason free agent acquisition who played for the Pistons last season, but otherwise both squads were at full strength, which was not true for the Thunder in many of last season's games (both in general and specifically versus the Spurs).
2) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 32 points on 13-27 field goal shooting while grabbing five rebounds, passing for four assists, blocking three shots, swiping two steals, and having just two turnovers in 36 minutes. His combination of productivity and efficiency is remarkable, particularly for a guard.
Jared McCain added 20 points in 22 minutes off of the bench. After Daryl Morey traded McCain to the Thunder last season, Morey said, "I'm quite confident we were selling high on Jared McCain," but perhaps Morey meant to say, "I'm quite confident that we were high when we sold Jared McCain."
Chet Holmgren--whose soft play versus the Spurs in the 2026 Western Conference Finals has been much scrutinized--had 14 points, seven rebounds, and a team-high four blocked shots. He played the most minutes (31) of the big man trio (Isaiah Hartenstein, 17; Aday Mara, 12) that helped the Thunder win the rebounding battle 48-45 while holding Victor Wembanyama in check.
Jaylen Williams is not close to his normal effectiveness (12 points on 5-16 field goal shooting), which makes this Thunder win even more impressive.
Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 24 points. Dylan Harper, who is a starter now after coming off of the bench for most of his rookie season, had 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. De'Aaron Fox added an efficient 14 points on 6-9 field goal shooting along with seven rebounds and a game-high seven assists.
Wembanyama finished with 12 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, and a game-high six blocked shots, but he shot just 1-13 from the field. His high talent level is obvious, but he can be pushed around and he too often settles for shots outside of the paint; even when he makes those shots, he is letting the defense off of the hook because he is not threatening the paint or fatiguing opposing big men or creating potential foul trouble, though to his credit he did draw enough fouls to shoot 10-12 from the free throw line in this game.
3) The Thunder enjoyed a dominant first half, outscoring the Spurs 65-44 while outshooting them from the field .522 (24-46) to .292 (14-48). Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 16 points and four assists in the first half. McCain added 11 points off of the bench, and Holmgren contributed 10 points plus two blocked shots. Wembanyama had eight points on 0-7 field goal shooting. All three Thunder players named Williams received technical fouls after a minor dustup at the 9:21 mark of the second quarter that was initiated by Fox throwing Holmgren to the ground when Holmgren tried to establish post position. Fox received a flagrant foul for his actions. The Thunder went on a 20-3 run after the fracas to go up 59-33, their biggest lead of the game.
The Spurs trimmed the margin to 74-67 midway in the third quarter, but they never got closer than that again, and they trailed by double digits for most of the fourth quarter.
If Jaylen Williams can stay reasonably healthy and the Thunder's three man rotation of centers consistently plays this well on top of Gilgeous-Alexander's dependable excellence then they will be the team to beat this season.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons, Jalen Duren, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, LeBron James, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers, San Antonio Spurs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Maxey
posted by David Friedman @ 1:46 AM
