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. Boston was pummeled on the glass throughout the defeat, which is the main reason the team finds itself winless heading into the second week of the NBA season.

The Celtics are 0-3 for the first time since the 2013-14 NBA season, when Brad Stevens was in his first year as an NBA head coach and guys like Gerald Wallace and Brandon Bass were in Boston’s starting five. That team started 0-4 before it won four straight, but finished with just 25 wins on the season.

This marks just the 10th time in franchise history that the Celtics have started a season 0-3. Only four of those previous nine teams finished the season with a winning record, and only three of them ended up making the playoffs. 

Boston will look to win its first game Monday night when the C’s pay a visit to the 0-2 New Orleans Pelicans. But to win, the Celtics are going to have to do a much better job at cleaning the glass.

Rebounding is a major issue for Celtics

With Jayson Tatum out as he recovers from his Achilles rupture and Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet all wearing new laundry this season, we knew rebounding was going to be an issue for the Celtics. But it’s been worse than anyone feared over the first three games. In fact, Boston’s rebounding has been downright hideous.

Sunday night was the worst of the worst as the Pistons gobbled up 55 rebounds, including 19 offensive boards. That’s no typo: The Pistons corralled 19 rebounds off the offensive glass and finished Sunday’s win with 32 second-chance points.

“We’ve got to figure that out. I think a lot of our issues can be solved just on the defensive glass,” Jaylen Brown said after his 41-point performance in a losing effort. “I’ve got to get more involved. I’ve got to get some more rebounds. Rebounding is definitely the biggest issue for us right now.”

Brown had six rebounds Sunday night and is averaging 5.3 per game to start the season. The Celtics are averaging just 39 rebounds per game to start the season, which ranks 27th in the NBA.

Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla has been benching players after they allow an offense rebound, but he would have run out of players with that approach Sunday night. Neemias Queta, Luka Garza, and Chris Boucher were no match for Detroit’s Jalen Duran in Motown, as he grabbed 18 rebounds (eight of which were offensive boards) and scored 24 points. Boston’s big man trio had just nine rebounds in total.

The Celtics still had a chance to win heading into the fourth quarter, but then gave up nine offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points in the frame. Detroit had five offensive rebounds on its final six possessions alone, and scored 10 points over that span.

Getting owned on the glass – especially the offensive glass – makes it extremely difficult to win on a given night. The Celtics had just 38 rebounds in Detroit, and their leading rebounder was the shortest guy on the court in Payton Pritchard, who brought in 10 boards.

The Celtics have now surrendered an NBA-high 50 offensive rebounds this season, which has resulted in 74 second-chance points for Boston’s opponents. Mix in some subpar shooting from Boston’s backcourt, with Pritchard and Derrick White a combined 14-for-57 from three for the season, and the Celtics find themselves winless three games into the campaign.

Without Tatum and with all the departures from the frontcourt, every night is going to be a battle for the Boston Celtics. But they’re making it a lot more difficult on themselves by getting absolutely owned in the rebounding department, especially on the offensive glass.

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