Detroit, MI
Tobias Harris turns it on as Detroit Pistons fight off Boston Celtics
What changed for Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren this season
Coach J.B. Bickerstaff on the progression of Jalen Duren’s skills as a center, Jan. 16, 2026.
Hours before Monday’s game, the Detroit Pistons got good news: Cade Cunningham was named an Eastern Conference starter in the 2026 NBA All-Star Game.
The East-leading Pistons followed that national statement with one of their own, pulling off a nail-biting win over the second-best team in the East, defeating the Boston Celtics, 104-103 at Little Caesars Arena. The nationally broadcast game featured 14 ties and nine lead changes, but the Pistons prevailed by holding the Celtics to 39.8% shooting, capped by a game-ending miss by Jaylen Brown.
Tobias Harris (25 points) lifted a Pistons offense that struggled to hit 3-pointers through most of the night. His biggest shot was a corner 3-pointer with 1:32 remaining in the game that gave the Pistons a five-point cushion, 104-99. Brown, who led all scorers with 32 points and 11 rebounds, answered with a pair of jumpers to cut the Pistons’ lead to one with 45 seconds left.
It ended up being the final basket either team hit. Cunningham missed a midrange jumper with 14 seconds left that would’ve given them a 3-point cushion, but Brown’s game-winning attempt from midrange on the other end bounced off the back of the rim, and then the front as the clock expired.
Jalen Duren added 18 points and nine rebounds, and Cunningham tallied 16 points and 14 assists. The Pistons shot just 6-for-25 from 3 through the first three periods but went 5-for-10 in the fourth while holding Boston to 7-for-20 (35%) overall.
The win gives the Pistons a 5½-game lead over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference (as well as a 3-1 season series win against Boston) with 12 games left before the All-Star break. Their next opponent isn’t nearly as competitive, as the Pistons will head to New Orleans to face the Pelicans – currently run by former Pistons execs Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver and sporting the worst record (10-35) in the Western Conference – on Wednesday (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Detroit).
Pistons throw block party during second quarter
After shooting just 33.3% in the opening period, the Pistons found their offensive groove in the second — thanks to their defense. They recorded five blocks during the quarter, which got their transition game going and swung momentum in their favor.
Stewart led off the block party by swatting a two-handed poster attempt by Celtics center Neemias Queta. It was one of his most impressive blocks in a season filled with impressive blocks, a good percentage of them on dunk attempts.
It was Cunningham’s turn next, rejecting a dunk attempt by Jordan Walsh in transition. It initially was ruled a foul, but coach J.B. Bickerstaff won an ensuing challenge. The Pistons took their first lead the following possession, with a Javonte Green 3-pointer making it 35-33 with 7:16 before halftime.
Thompson followed, getting a hand on a top-of-the-key 3-point attempt by Pritchard and finishing a fastbreak dunk. The Pistons outscored the Celtics, 33-22, in the second period while holding them to 30% (6-for-20) shooting. At halftime, Boston was just 33.3% from the floor with nine turnovers, off which the Pistons scored 14 points.
After trailing by eight points midway through the first, the Pistons led 59-51 at halftime despite hitting just four of their 18 3-point attempts up to that point.
Duren dominates Celtics’ frontcourt
The fourth-year big man put together his highest-scoring game of 2026, taking advantage of the Celtics’ biggest weakness — frontcourt depth. Other than their starting center, Queta, Boston’s bigs consist of former Pistons second-round pick Luka Garza and former Michigan State big Xavier Tillman.
Duren got going early, leading the Pistons with nine points after the first quarter. Garza checked in at the 7:54 mark and picked up two quick fouls while defending Duren, and subbed back out at the 4:50 mark. The lob connection with Cunningham got going early — he tipped in one from Cunningham and from Robinson in the first, and flushed a powerful two-handed lob from Cunningham late in the third quarter to extend the Pistons’ lead to 76-73.
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X @omarisankofa.
Detroit Tigers blow lead, lose to Kansas City Royals on walk-off hit.
The Tigers lost, 4-3, to the Royals on Kyle Isbel’s walk-off single in the ninth inning.
Kansas City, Mo. — The losing streak is now five games. The road record is now an MLB-worst 6-16.
The Kansas City Royals prolonged the Tigers’ misery Saturday night with a relatively breezy 5-1 win at Kauffman Stadium.
Oh, and the Tigers might’ve lost another player in the process.
Right fielder Kerry Carpenter left the game in the third inning. He banged his left shoulder running into the side wall chasing Bobby Witt Jr.’s first-inning, two-run, inside-the-park home run.
Witt, a right-handed hitter, sliced a drive inside the bag at first. Carpenter chased it toward the side wall, but the ball caromed past him. Witt never stopped running.
Carpenter stayed in the game and even rolled an infield single in the second inning. But he was replaced by Wenceel Perez when the Royals came to bat in the third inning.
BOX SCORE: Royals 5, Tigers 1
He was being evaluated during the game.
The two-run homer by Witt ended up being more than the Tigers’ sputtering offense could overcome. But, for good measure, Michael Massey added a three-run home run off Ty Madden in the fourth inning.
Madden ended up being one of the few bright spots in the game for the Tigers. He pitched six innings and allowed just one other hit. He set down the last 11 hitters he faced.
He entered in the third inning after opener Burch Smith and lefty Tyler Holton worked one time through the Royals’ batting order.
Holton made a nifty escape in the first inning. With runners at second and third and one out, and two runs already in, Jac Caglianone hit a hard ground ball to second baseman Zach McKinstry, who was playing in on the grass.
McKinstry got the out at first. The runner at second, Carter Jensen, mistakenly broke for third where Vinnie Pasquantino was holding.
Spencer Torkelson threw to shortstop Kevin McGonigle who threw to catcher Jake Rogers once Pasquantino broke for home — your basic 4-3-6-2 double-play.
Not much else went the Tigers’ way.
Royals right-hander Michael Wacha snuffed out the few scoring opportunities the Tigers mustered.
He worked around an error and a McKinstry stolen base in the third innings. He got Jake Rogers to pop to shallow right field with runners at first and third and one out and then got Matt Vierling to ground out with the bases loaded in the fifth.
Wacha allowed two hits in seven innings. The Tigers put 18 balls in play against him with a soft average exit velocity of 84.4 mph.
The Tigers broke through in the eighth against lefty reliever Matt Strahm. And it was left-handed hitters who did the dirty work. Riley Greene, who extended his career-high on-base streak to 20 games, doubled home McGonigle.
This season is a long way from over but Tigers, 18-22, are in serious need a course correction.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
4Warn Weather – SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy skies. A chance of showers and thunderstorms. A few storms could be strong with gusty winds and hail. High: 71.
SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy skies, becoming partly cloudy skies late. Low: 45.
SUNDAY (MOTHER’S DAY): Mix of sunshine and clouds, cooler temperatures. High: 61.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy skies. Another chilly night. Low: 41.
MONDAY: Mostly sunny skies, remaining chilly. High: 58.
After a beautiful end to the week on Friday with sunshine and a little cloud cover, with warmer temperatures moving into the region as well, some of us are waking up to some patchy dense fog on Saturday morning. Some places south of M-59 are seeing reduced visibilities down to around a mile. If you do run into some patchy dense fog, be sure to use your low beams.
That warming trend continues into the start of the weekend on Saturday, but it also brings a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Another cold front will work through the region by Saturday afternoon and early Saturday evening and that will bring our thunderstorm chance. High temperature is warming into low 70s by Saturday afternoon.
The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of the region under a Marginal Risk (1 out of 5) on our severe weather scale for the start of the weekend. Gusty winds and hail are the primary threats as we work through the start of the weekend, but this will not be a widespread threat for severe thunderstorms.
Behind that cold front for the end of the weekend on Sunday, we will keep a mixture of sunshine and clouds into the forecast. High temperatures running about 10 to 15° cooler to end the weekend. Expect high to warm into the upper 50s to lower 60s by Sunday afternoon.
Drier weather sticks around for the start of next week, before another chance of rain moves into the region by the time we get to Tuesday. The cooler-than-average temperatures will continue into the start of next week as well. Expect high temperatures to remain in the 50s for Monday and Tuesday.
Temperature start to warm up by the middle of next week, and Drier weather moves back in by Wednesday behind another cold front moving into the region. Expect high temperatures into the lower 60s on Wednesday to warm into the upper 60s by the time we get to Thursday. Above average temperatures move back into the region as we look ahead into the end of the week, expect high temperatures back into the lower 70s by the time we get to Friday.
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