Vince Carter Takes Brutal Shot at Jayson Tatum’s Reliability After Celtics Lose 22-Point Lead in Season Opener vs. Pistons

Opening night of the 2026-27 NBA season delivered drama right away, and the Boston Celtics were on the wrong end of it. Boston fell 121-113 to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday in a game it appeared to have under control for most of the night. The final margin wasn’t lopsided, but the way the Celtics lost it made the defeat sting.

Boston led by as many as 22 in the third quarter, going up 72-50 with 8:32 left in the period. Paul George was the driving force, drilling three 3-pointers in under a minute early in the third to push the lead. Then the game flipped. Detroit closed the third on a 32-16 surge to cut the deficit to 88-82, then ripped off a 23-0 run in the fourth quarter, turning a 99-89 deficit into a 112-99 lead with 3:33 left.

After the collapse, NBA legend Vince Carter questioned whether Jayson Tatum can be the player Boston leans on now that Jaylen Brown is gone.

"When you lose a guy, a scorer like Jaylen Brown, I'm not going to use the word crutch, but he was a guy when Jayson Tatum was not playing well, you can rely on that guy," Carter said during the postgame broadcast on NBC. "Tonight we saw PG be that guy, but when they started to take away PG, take away those looks, now Jayson Tatum has that opportunity."

"So for me, it's who's gonna be this consistent number two?" Carter continued. "They have to stay healthy. But, you know, when you're in this position now, we're gonna always look at Jayson Tatum as that guy. And can he deliver? And it's unfortunate, I mean, they had a 22-point lead."

The timing was great for Tatum. On the same night, his former running mate Jaylen Brown had a strong Sixers debut. He posted 19 points, eight rebounds, and six assists as Philadelphia beat the defending champions New York Knicks 106-100 on the ring night.

Jayson Tatum Puts Up an Underwhelming Double-Double Performance

Tatum didn't exactly look like the face of the Celtics during their opener. Tatum, whom the Celtics organization chose to keep over Jaylen Brown, put up a double-double outing against the Pistons. However, his production didn't necessarily have a positive impact.

He finished with 13 points, 11 assists, and four rebounds, but shot just 6-of-23 from the field (26.1%) and missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. With Ausar Thompson as his primary defender for much of the night, Tatum went 1-for-10 for just two points in the second half, exactly when Boston needed someone to stop Detroit’s run.

Now looking at the positive, Paul George, who many feared would be a washed talent, stepped up to the occasion in an attempt to rescue his new team. George had a huge game, adding 38 points, five rebounds, three assists, and five steals. He shot 12-of-21 from the field (57.1%) and 7-of-12 from three (58.3%).

After that disappointing loss, Tatum will need to make up for his poor performance immediately before he ends up in a slump early on in this season.