Paul George made a stunning Celtics debut, pouring in 38 points in the team’s opener at Detroit. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough as the Celtics squandered a 22-point lead in the second half and lost 121-113.

If nothing else, it proved that the 36-year-old still has plenty left in the tank. However, he left the court with an empty feeling.

“I’m not a moral victory guy,” George said, per the Associated Press. “It means nothing.”

George also sparked the defense with five steals.

“It was a thing to watch,” guard Derrick White said. “He got hot and we tried to find him.”

Here’s more on the Celtics:

• Mitchell Robinson’s debut with the club didn’t go as smoothly. The team’s new starting center tweaked his ankle and finished with four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes. “I got my ass kicked on the glass,” he told the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn. “I can’t have no starts like that. It’s cool to get out there and put on that Boston jersey for the first time in a regular-season game, but overall, I still didn’t do what I needed to do. I gotta compete better. I feel like I didn’t compete at a high level that I normally do and I was kind of slow on a lot of things.”
• Jayson Tatum, blanketed by defensive ace Ausar Thompson, was limited to 13 points on 6-for-23 shooting. “I mean [the shot] felt good, but definitely not one of my best nights,” Tatum said. “I have to play better. Part of my role is scoring, so I felt really good about a lot of the looks. Maybe slow down when I get to the rim, but there’s a lot of things I could learn from and just be better for next time.”
• Payton Pritchard scored 17 points, four days after signing a two-year, $44.2MM extension. Pritchard said the reward won’t affect his work ethic. “I feel like $22 million a year is quite a lot of money, especially with (what) I was going from making about ($8 million),” Pritchard told Jay King of The Athletic. “So I thought it was — I don’t know, sometimes I like to just take that, and then you can always work for the next one. So stay hungry and maybe go get after the next one, be a better player — three years down the road, maybe I’m a better player, and then hopefully I can get rewarded like that again.”