The Detroit Pistons have been to five straight Eastern Conference Finals. During that impressive run, they've taken home an NBA Championship and lost in another Final. With most of that same championship nucleus (Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince) back, the Pistons are still the team to beat in the East. The Celtics have gotten off to an amazing start (20-2) but as last night showed, they're not the Pistons. Not yet at least. Detroit won 87-85 at the Garden as Billups drained two free throws with 0.1 seconds left to ice it.
The loss snaps Boston's (20-3) nine game winning streak while also handing them their first defeat at home (12-1). It was a classic back and forth contest that resembled a playoff game even though it was mid-December. The Celtics jumped out to a 29-25 lead after one and a 52-45 advantage at the half. In the process, Celts second-year point guard Rajon Rondo played the half of his early NBA life. He had 14 points in the first half, including a sick ball-fake and hook shot around Rasheed Wallace and he also made an impossible off-balance layup while getting fouled. Predictably, he was completely shut down in the second half as he picked up five fouls and finished with 14 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals.
Boston's shots weren't falling in the third quarter (13 points) and some costly turnovers killed them in the final frame. Meanwhile, Billups (game-high 28 points, 8 assists) and Hamilton (21 points) were seemingly draining every shot. They couldn't miss. Antonio McDyess had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
On the other side, Kevin Garnett played one of his best games as a Celtic, submitting 26 points, 12 rebounds and 2 steals. He was consistently knocking down jumpers while teammate Ray Allen (fresh off sitting the last two games) had his most complete game of the year. Allen has made two game-winning shots but last night he was locked in as he had 24 points (on 9 of 13 shooting) and five boards.
The Celts found themselves down 78-71 after Pistons guard Lindsey Hunter made a three. Ray Allen had the highlight of the game as he drove to the hoop and threw down a reverse jam, something that nobody in the building expected (or would have believed). Soon after, Boston came back as Eddie House made a three to cut it to a three point deficit. After a Kendrick Perkins block, Allen calmly drained a three-pointer around two guys to tie it up. Billups had the ball stolen away by KG and it looked like Boston would have the last shot, the worst case scenario being that they miss and go to overtime.
The first mistake was that Paul Pierce got the last shot. Pierce struggled shooting all night (11 points on 5 of 16 shooting, 4 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals) and he bricked a medium range jumper. Even worse, Wallace controlled the rebound and Detroit had the ball with 1.7 seconds left after a timeout.
Everybody in the building (myself included) and watching on TV knew it was going to Billups and he didn't disappoint as he pump-faked Tony Allen and Allen couldn't help but crash into him. Chauncey is only a 90% career FT shooter so this one was over.
For the game, Boston shot an impressive 49.3% from the floor to the Pistons 40.3%. The C's couldn't buy threes though as they shot just 4 of 14 from beyond the arc. Detroit was 9 of 20 for three. The Pistons were 20-23 from the line while Boston struggled, shooting 13-21 as a team. Detroit's bench outscored Boston 14-5. Celtics super subs Eddie House (5 points) and James Posey (0 points) each had their worst games in recent memory.
All in all it was a real exciting game that was hopefully a precursor of things to come in May (albeit with a different ending). The Pistons are still ridiculously efficient and calm under pressure. As proof of that, their head coach is bozo Flip Saunders. Even he couldn't mess this team up. The Celtics can only gain from a big game like this. Too many times already this season, they've simply overmatched scrub Eastern Conference and a few terrible Western Conference teams. You can only get better after facing a team like Detroit.
The Bulls come to Boston tomorrow night and who knows what to expect from them. Chicago is a talented team but they rarely have seemed to show up this year. The C's beat them a few weeks back in Chi-town.
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