Boston's October 19 Games: Five Wins, One Loss, and a Roster…

By the Celtics Nightly Desk · Monday, October 19

The Celtics won five of six games played on this calendar date in past seasons, including the 1973-74 title year. None of it transfers to Tuesday in Detroit, where the roster has been rebuilt around Tatum and George.

Celtics Nightly artwork — Illustration by Hoops Nightly.

The calendar favors Boston, and that proves very little.

Boston won at Chicago in 1968, beat Philadelphia in 1973, won at Buffalo in 1974, beat Baltimore in 1971 and Washington in 1979. The one loss came in 2018, 113-101 at Toronto. Five wins in six is a pleasant sample, but six games across five decades say nothing about a team that has not yet played a regular-season game.

Boston has rebuilt around a core before, and the sequel was not instant.

Red Auerbach acquired Bill Russell in 1956, and Russell finished with 11 championships in 13 seasons. After that run Boston rebuilt around Dave Cowens, John Havlicek and Jo Jo White, who won in 1974 and 1976. The October 19 wins over Philadelphia in 1973 and Buffalo in 1974 belong to that group. This year's turnover is smaller, but the lesson is the same: a new core needs time to be judged, and one opener will not settle it.

The best lineup from last season no longer exists.

The Brown, White, Queta, Pritchard, Hauser five posted a net rating of +17.9 over 35 games and 200 minutes last season. Jaylen Brown is now with Philadelphia, so that number describes a group that cannot play together again. The same unit with Hugo Gonzalez in Hauser's place was +14.8 in 67 minutes. Those samples are small, and Gonzalez's fit is a guess until real games are played.

Detroit is the first test of whether Boston's margin was real.

Last season Boston went 56-26 with a net rating of 8.3. Detroit went 60-22 at 8.4, with a faster pace of 99.9 against Boston's 95.6. Cade Cunningham averaged 23.9 points and 9.9 assists in 64 games. The ratings are nearly identical, so the open question is whether Boston's version holds up with Paul George, 36, in Brown's place. Last season George played 37 games and Tatum 16, so neither gives much of a baseline.

How have the Celtics done on October 19 in past seasons?

They won five of six games on this date, most recently losing 113-101 at Toronto in 2018. The wins came in 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1979.

Who do the Celtics play in their 2026-27 opener?

They open Tuesday, October 20, at Detroit, on NBC and Peacock. Detroit went 60-22 last season, with a net rating of 8.4 to Boston's 8.3.

By the Celtics Nightly Desk, written from the club's data and the reports on file, with every name and number checked against them. How the desks work.