Defensive miscommunications were underlying problem in Celtics vs. Pistons

For two and a half quarters, everything was going well for the Boston Celtics. They had control over the Detroit Pistons. Paul George was on fire. The Celtics were on track for an Opening Day victory.

Then, it all went wrong. Jayson Tatum was as cold as cold can be. Boston's offense got stagnant, and as a result, its defense struggled. The two sides of the ball were connected.

But it was more than that. Yes, the Celtics' offensive miscues led to easy Pistons transition chances, but that wasn't all it was.

Joe Mazzulla said it at practice on Thursday morning: "Really, we gave up 76 points. So, some of that is our defense as well." Allowing 76 points in a half is more than just bad offense creating bad defense. It's bad defense in general.

What happened? Well, the obvious answer is fouling 3-point shooters. Boston fouled 3-point shooters three different times. That's nine free-throw attempts. Giving up and-ones also hurt.

Yet miscommunication was at the center of it all. Boston's new defensive style requires the team to be perfectly connected. In sync. On Tuesday afternoon in Detroit, in the second half, in particular, the Celtics just weren't.

"I think just communication a little bit, honestly. Just cleaning that up," Sam Hauser said. "That's where kind of the lapses happened, I think, for the majority of that run in the second half. So, tightening up that. And I think if you communicate, even if you're out of position, it usually helps clear things up. So, just emphasizing that over the next - tomorrow, the next couple games coming up."

What went wrong? Why were the Celtics so disconnected? Well, it's just what happened. It wasn't any one person's fault. It's a new year in a new system in the first game of the year. Emotions got the best of them.

"It happens from time to time. As much as you don't want it to happen, it does happen," Hauser said. "First game of the year, there's a lot of pent-up energy, excitement, nervousness, whatever it may be. Sometimes that stuff gets lost in translation. It's something that we just got to get better at. That's about it."

That's not an excuse. The Celtics cannot let those emotions ruin the fabric of their defense. It's a long year. They'll have a chance to learn and grow. But the mistakes they made against the Pistons cannot be repeated.

I went over them in a short-form video here, if you want to watch the clips with a presentation. There were plenty of examples to review.

But for those who prefer to read a breakdown and watch the full play, here are a few incidents. Times when the Celtics' defensive communication failed them in Detroit.

On this play, look at where George is guarding Kevin Huerter. They are almost at half-court. That's not a good place for George to be.

When Cade Cunningham curls around the screen, George needs to be at the 3-point line. That way, he can stunt over and stop Cunningham from getting downhill. That's part of the Celtics' new defense that was displayed in the preseason.

Since George is so far out, Cunningham gets a free drive to the basket when Hugo Gonzalez gets stuck on the screen. And nobody communicates.

With George not in position to stunt over, Neemias Queta should shift his body to the right to take away the drive himself. But that wasn't part of the plan. Now, two Celtics are out of position, and they give up an and-one layup to Cunningham.

If George or Gonzalez had yelled to Queta to move over, perhaps he could have stopped Cunningham in time. Or maybe someone needed to tell George to sink back in when Paul Reed set up to screen for Cunningham. No one said anything.

Then there's this play. George helps over when Daniss Jenkins drives on Derrick White, and the two Celtics cut off that lane well.

However, when Jenkins backtracks and runs a handoff for Duncan Robinson, nobody is there. Baylor Scheierman gets hung up on the screen, and White doesn't step up to help. Robinson gets a wide-open shot.

Well, maybe that's the plan. Scheierman should just get around the screen. Nobody should need to help him. Maybe that's true. But not based on some of the other plays.

Watch Payton Pritchard fight around the screen here. Hauser very clearly makes an attempt to help on Robinson. But he's too late.

By the time Hauser reacts to Robinson coming around the screen, he's