NBA opening night: Pistons come from 22 down to beat Celtics 121-113 despite Paul George's 38; 76ers and Thunder also win

The 2026-27 NBA regular season opened on Tuesday (US time). All three opening-day games have finished: Detroit came from 22 points down to beat Boston, Philadelphia won 106-100 at the champion New York Knicks, and Oklahoma City won 116-104 at San Antonio.

Updated 7:40am GMT Wednesday 21 October: added the result of Thunder at Spurs, which finished at about 4am GMT.

Detroit Pistons 121, Boston Celtics 113

Score by quarter (NBA official scorer’s report): Celtics 28-30-30-25, Pistons 27-18-37-39, at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.

Boston led 58-45 at half-time and by 22 points, 72-50, in the third quarter, CBS Sports reported. Detroit then went on a 23-0 run in the fourth quarter, led by Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green, according to CBS Sports. NBA Communications said it was the largest comeback on the first day of an NBA season since 1997-98, when play-by-play records began.

Leading scorers: Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren scored 22 each for Detroit, Robinson 21 and Green 19, all of Green’s in the second half, according to AP, CBS Sports and NBA.com. Paul George scored 38 for Boston in his first game for the club, a Celtics record for points in a debut, ahead of Kristaps Porziņģis’s 30 in 2023, Sporting News reported. Jayson Tatum scored 13 points on 6-of-23 shooting, CBS Sports said. Detroit out-rebounded Boston 59-45, according to NBA.com.

What they said: “We had a good talk at halftime, and we lit that fire a little bit better,” Cunningham said, according to NBA.com.

Philadelphia 76ers 106, New York Knicks 100

Score by quarter (NBA.com): 76ers 23-31-29-23, Knicks 25-33-18-24, at Madison Square Garden, New York, after the Knicks received their championship rings.

Leading scorers: Tyrese Maxey scored a game-high 28 points for Philadelphia, according to AP and NBC Sports. In his first game since his move from Boston, Jaylen Brown had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and LeBron James, starting his NBA-record 24th season, finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, AP reported. Anfernee Simons hit three 3-pointers off the bench, AP said. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 21 points but shot 6 of 19 from the field.

Next: Philadelphia host Cleveland on Thursday and New York play Boston on Friday (US time), according to AP.

Oklahoma City Thunder 116, San Antonio Spurs 104

Score by quarter (NBA official scorer’s report): Thunder 34-31-28-23, Spurs 28-16-36-24, at Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, in the teams’ first meeting since the Spurs won Game 7 of last season’s Western Conference finals, AP reported.

Leading scorers: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points and Jared McCain 20, with 6 of 8 three-pointers, for Oklahoma City, according to the official box score. Victor Wembanyama had 12 points and 13 rebounds but made 1 of 13 shots from the field, AP reported. Stephon Castle led San Antonio with 24. The Thunder led 65-44 at half-time after a second-quarter scuffle that followed a Flagrant 1 foul by De’Aaron Fox on Chet Holmgren, according to AP. Full report: Thunder beat Spurs 116-104.

See also: Celtics sign Payton Pritchard to a two-year extension and the NBA rookie extension deadline.