The Detroit Pistons (20-5) take the Eastern Conference’s best record and a three-game winning streak into TD Garden on Monday night to take on the Boston Celtics (15-10), who had their run of five straight victories ended on Thursday.

As the trade window opens, Boston’s strong start has clarified how the Celtics could approach the center market moving forward.

The Celtics have swung at least one in-season trade every year since 2021, ranging in significance from the big swing for Derrick White in 2022 to the modest dumping of Jaden Springer’s salary this past February.

But fast forward to the present, and it is clear that the Celtics are a good team with postseason potential despite those high-profile exits, and Mazzulla is a major part of the reason why given how well he is getting those younger replacements to play this season.

The Detroit Pistons face the Boston Celtics in a regular season NBA game on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025 at TD Garden in Boston, Mass.

The Detroit Pistons have won five of their last six matchups, most recently defeating the Atlanta Hawks 142-115 at home last Friday. It was the team’s largest win of the season, and the bench scored a season-high 77 points in the win. 12 players scored at least 7 points, making the Pistons the third team in NBA history to accomplish that feat.

The Boston Celtics are winless through their first three games of the 2025-26 season, putting the NBA's most storied franchise in an unfamiliar spot. The Celtics fell to 0-3 Sunday evening with a frustrating 119-113 loss to the Pistons in Detroit.

Today in Boston Celtics history, Charles Thomas Scott was born in New York City in 1948. Known as "Charlie" to a number of Celtics fans, the New York native broke the color barrier at the University of North Carolina as that famed institution of higher learning rostered their first Black scholarship athlete in history.

The Spurs and Knicks are squaring off in the NBA Cup championship game. Could this be a preview of the NBA Finals?