The Boston Celtics have had a grueling schedule to start the 2023-24 season, but it seemed like it would ease up on Thursday night when the historically bad Detroit Pistons came to town. Instead, the Pistons battled hard before the Celtics ultimately prevailed in overtime, 128-122.

A team that previously set the record for the longest single-season losing streak in the NBA doesn't strike fear into the hearts of opponents. Yet, that's why head coach Joe Mazzulla was worried about the Pistons. Following Boston's clutch victory, Mazzulla sounded off on the challenge Detroit presented.

“At the end of the day, I expected this to be one of the hardest games of the year,” he admitted. “And I like how our guys responded to it.”

Even though the now 2-29 Pistons haven't won a game in over two months, they were up 66-47 at halftime. Boston eventually erased the double-digit lead and seemed to seal the win late in the fourth quarter. However, Pistons guard Bojan Bogdanovic tipped in a miss with 4.1 seconds remaining to send the contest to overtime.

The Celtics were previously 0-3 in overtime, but they came up clutch when it mattered most against the Pistons. They had zero turnovers in extra time and didn't flinch at all when Detroit led by two with less than three minutes remaining.

“To me, we gained a ton from tonight's game,” Mazzulla said. “I thought it was an awesome opportunity. And we said that at halftime, like, ‘we got an opportunity to build toughness, to build a mindset.'”
The C's will have another chance to demonstrate that mindset on Friday night, as they have less than 24 hours of rest before hosting the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.