The Piston’s tip-off a new season tonight, hoping to improve on last year’s disappointing 27-and-55 record. It’s Detroit at New Jersey followed by a home opener at the Palace Friday against Oklahoma City.

A surprise starter for the Pistons tonight at power forward is second year player Austin Daye, a lanky 6-foot-11, 210-pounder at best who will be giving up 50 pounds against most of his opponents in the front court. Daye is confident he’ll get the job done

In the pre-season, Daye shot 50% from 3-point range and led the Pistons in scoring in four of their eight games. That helped him beat out Jason Maxiell and Charlie Villanueva to make the starting lineup.

The season started last night with 3 games including the defending Eastern Conference champion Celtics holding off the new-look Miami Heat 88-to-80 in Boston. LaBron James had a game-high 31 points for the Heat while Ray Allen scored 20 points and Paul Pierce added 19 for the Celtics.

Also, the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers snuck past the Houston Rockets, 112-110 while Portland beat Phoenix 106-to-92.

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