The Detroit Pistons get the national spotlight on one of the NBA’s signature nights, facing the Boston Celtics on Peacock and NBC, helping to cap off the league’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day slate of games. One topic of conversation tonight will likely be a lot of attention paid to Cade Cunningham and Jaylen Brown, who were both named starters for the Eastern Conference half of the All-Star team bracket. Tonight also pits the top two teams in the Eastern Conference as Detroit enters the midway point of the season with a 4.5-game lead over the second-place Celtics.
Detroit is coming off of a 42-point drubbing of the Indiana Pacers. It’s important to stress, however, that those Pacers weren’t even the actual Pacers — they were missing their top six players — and even if they were at full strength, the Celtics are certainly not those Pacers. Boston has been playing great this season. The Celtics have the second-best offense in the NBA and they will face a Pistons team with a second-ranked defense. The two teams are tied in net rating this season, both at 7.6 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents. It has the making of be a heck of a fight.
Game Vitals
When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: Peacock and NBC
Odds: Pistons -2.5
Projected Starters
Detroit Pistons (30-10)
Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
Boston Celtics (26-15)
Peyton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta
