Well, this is what we all have been waiting for. The two best records in the East will matchup in what should be a tough, grueling series. I have many thoughts and this won't be highely organized but I will give it a go.
The Regular Season Matchups:
These really don't mean much to me other than a few things. The first game, Lindsey Hunter sparked the Stons and Chillups finishd them off. Boston shot something like 49-40 percent but Detroit made the plays. Both teams were plenty rested for this game. The second meeting in Detroit was a battle. Glen Davis was the big reason Boston won. It didn't help that Chauncey and Hamilton missed huge FT's late. This game erased a lot of doubts from last summer/fall about Bostons bench and they proved it all season long. The only scheduling factor was this was Detroits only home game outta a 8 game stretch I believe. Boston won the third matchup at home. It was a tight game till the 4th. The Celtics outscored them 21-11. I say both great Boston defense and scheduling killed Detroit. They playd a 5-game set out West then came home to play he Sonics. That was the great comback game. They spent a lot more energy than they should have.
The Series Price:
I see at Bookmaker that the line is even bet down to +115 now for Detroit. If your counting on Detroit winning the series playing them as ML dogs in the games at the Garden would be wiser. Thats my opinion though. Its funny the debate from last week you guys had and this is def not the line many expected. LOL.
Boston Tired?:
Don't kid yourself, two seven game sets for a team thats older for most part is not easy. Ask Detroit two years ago. They went through a mentally tough series with the Cavs that went the full seven in the semifinals. They then had to turn around at home and lost to Miami immediately in Game One. They were exhausted and just had nothing left for that series. Cleveland is a helluva defensive team. They made the Celtics work for that series.
Ray Allen:
Crazy that article that someone posted earlier today about his ankles and the Sonics doctors advice that he sit out B2B's this season and whatnot. Honestly, it may have caught up to him. It could be Clevlands defense. I do know hat Cleveland uses a similar approach as Detroit does to defend him. Throughout their careers, Hamilton and Allen have had great battles. I think Rip can get to him this series though. He must be on the attack.
Stons Guards and a Look Back to Cleveland Last Year:
It wasn't Boobie Gibson or James that was the biggest factor last season. It wasn't even the referee's in Game 6. It was Pavlovic and Hughes. Detroit has a great backcourt combo. You saw them feast on small guys like Gordon, Hinrich, Nelson etc the past few years. Last year the Cavs big guards gave Detroit so much trouble. Especially Chillups. Now, we see Rondo and Shuttlesworth. This will be no problem. I think this is a huge factor in this series. Obviously, it all depends on the hammy. Stuckey also has a huge advantage if they decide to trot Sam out there. Even against house. Thats an added element they didn't have last year.
Coaching:
The biggest coaching improvement for Flip this season was actually made last summer. And not by himself. It was Joe D's plan to more atheltic and get the young guys experience. I have yet to see Detroit fatigue yet in these playoffs. Game thre in Philly they looked old and tired. I chalk that up more to the month they basically took off before that. I hope Flip decides to push the ball some. That is essential against this great Boston defense. Doc has never ben a great coach. Ainge gave him a nice hand to play with. I think he improved as a coach this year but at the same time he has been indecisive in the playoffs.
Role Players:
This is going to be huge in this series. Perkins vs McDyess is a big battle. Dice really went cold the 2nd half of the year. That being said, he has come back to life in thep layoffs. His defense and rebounding have been tremendous. Perkins has his ups and downs. He can be sneaky though and be a factor as we may put to much attention to the other starters. Its pretty much confirmed that Antonio will start Game One. It had been up in the air. James Posey is the guy that concerns me. His defense and timely shooting. Right behind him is PJ Brown. I swear he never misses that little push line drive jumper. Stuckey, with his creativeness will be huge. The kid isn't scared of the stage after averaging 22 mpg so far in the playoffs. The week off should do wonders for Maxy as he has tired at times this 2nd half and playoffs.
Predictions:
I don't have one. I feel the situation is their for Detroit. In think you'll see 2-3 road wins in this series. I think Rasheed is going to be great(again) this series. He and KG are the two best players on the court. I think every game will be pretty ugly. This could be reminiscent of the Pacers-Stons EC Finals of a few years ago where we will see some totals in the 160's. You know who I am rooting for and I say good luck to all of you Celtic fans. Two proud traditions that have had some great playoff series.
I'll keep any plays I play on this series in this thread, so you'll have to sift through.
Below are some articles. Enjoy.
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BOSTON -- Tonight's Eastern Conference finals Game 1 matchup between Detroit and Boston will be playoff game No. 144 for Rasheed Wallace, the last 93 coming in a Pistons uniform.
With that kind of experience comes wisdom; and with that wisdom comes the knowledge this postseason journey may be the last for this group.
That's why this playoff run, one they hope to extend beyond this series against the Celtics, is so important.
"We know our time is running slim," said Wallace, 33, who this fall will enter the final year of the five-year deal he signed with Detroit after its 2004 NBA title run. "So we're gonna go out there and come up with some victories."
This is Detroit's sixth consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference finals, a feat that has not been done since the Los Angeles Lakers' "Showtime" teams of the 1980s advanced to the Western Conference finals eight consecutive seasons (1982-89). During that span, the Lakers won four NBA titles.
Meanwhile, this Pistons team has won one NBA title (2004), and made two trips to the NBA Finals.
Winning an NBA championship alone is motivation, but veterans such as Lindsey Hunter understand there is added significance to this trip to the Eastern Conference finals.
"We're trying to make our own legacy," said Hunter, 37, who probably will retire after this season. "We're trying to get another title, and be considered a dynasty."
Hunter, who has won NBA titles with Detroit (2004) and the Lakers (2002), understands there is only one way for the Pistons to achieve that goal.
"The only thing we can do is try to win another title and be mentioned with those great teams," Hunter said. "You always envy teams like San Antonio who have won so many NBA titles throughout these years. You want to get back and compete for one, and this is our chance."
Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations, has resisted the temptation in recent years to tinker with his core group that includes Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton.
However, he has gone about remaking the team's roster to reflect a Pistons squad that is focused on becoming younger and more athletic, while maintaining a certain veteran presence.
At some point, a transition will occur in which those young players assume positions of prominence.
"Part of that is going to be how healthy they (veterans) keep themselves," Dumars said in an earlier interview. "The other part is going to be the young guys. If they develop as quickly and as much as we'd like for them, my veteran guys won't have to carry as much of the load as they do now. If you lessen their load and some of these young guys can come in and take some of that off of them, I see us staying around for the next few years."
Signs of Detroit's transition already are apparent.
Third-year forward Jason Maxiell has become a regular off the bench and a part-time starter. Rookie Rodney Stuckey, a second-team all-NBA rookie selection, was instrumental in Detroit defeating the Orlando Magic in the Pistons' second-round series.
After Billups suffered a strained right hamstring injury early in Game 3 at Orlando, Stuckey finished out that game, a 111-86 Pistons loss. The 6-foot-5 rookie then was thrust into the starting lineup for the next two games, helping the Pistons win both to close out the series.
"When I'm out there, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win," Stuckey said. "I'm just trying to do my job, that's all."
So are veterans such as McDyess, who understands how special a trip to the Eastern Conference finals is, even if the Pistons have made it look routine.
"It always means something to make it this far," McDyess said recently. "And for me and some of the older guys, it means a lot more because you never know how many chances you'll get."
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BOSTON -- Ray Allen is one of the league's premier 3-point shooters with a well-earned reputation for delivering big shots when his team has needed him most.
But in the playoffs, when Allen should be at the top of his game because he is playing with -- record-wise at least -- the best team in the NBA, he has looked nothing like the sharpshooter people are accustomed to seeing.
Even with Allen in one of the worst shooting funks of his career, do not think for a minute the Detroit Pistons are not worried about him.
In fact, his shooting woes actually have increased the level of attention Detroit will pay to him, well aware that keeping him under wraps will go far in the Pistons' quest to win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight.
Allen talked to reporters about his shooting funk after Boston's practice Monday.
"I think, personally, it's been tougher than anything I've ever seen," said Allen, whose 38.5-percent shooting from the field in the playoffs is a career worst.
The defense used by the Cleveland Cavaliers in limiting Allen in Boston's second-round series is similar to the defensive approach Detroit has taken against him in the past.
Defensive schemes certainly have limited Allen's scoring, which is down to 12.7 points per game after he averaged 17.4 points during the regular season.
But Pistons coach Flip Saunders believes there is more to the 32-year-old's shooting struggles.
"It's a long season," Saunders said. "He's a little bit older. With the intensity, and as far as how hard he's played. Those guys, they ate up a lot of minutes, those first 60 games. Those minutes that get eaten up early in the season, you try and get rest late; it doesn't matter once you eat them up and your legs get a little bit dead."
Still, Saunders has seen enough of Allen to know he is too good a shooter to struggle much longer.
"He can go out and get a game where he's going to go get six out of seven 3s," Saunders said. "So that's why you can't say, 'Well, I'm just not going to guard him.' "
Limiting Allen's scoring will fall primarily on the shoulders of Pistons guard Richard Hamilton, who has known Allen since he was in high school and Allen was a star at UConn.
"He was kind of like my chaperone, trying to get me to come there," said Hamilton, who ultimately picked Connecticut and led the Huskies to a national title in 1999.
Hamilton, who never played with Allen at Connecticut, also has taken note of Allen's shooting woes in the playoffs.
Knowing Allen as well as he does, Hamilton is not banking on him missing too many more shots.
"When you play against Ray, he's a great shooter," Hamilton said. "So you can't sleep on him at any point of time of the game."
Garnett also a threat
Kevin Garnett is one of the Pistons' biggest concerns in this series especially his role in the Celtic's pick-and-roll offense.
"He's probably the best 17-, 18-foot shooter in the league," said Saunders, who coached him in Minnesota. "So he can pick-and-pop and shoot that."
Odds & ends
Paul Pierce is the only player for either team to play in the 2002 second-round playoff series between Detroit and Boston, which the Celtics won in five games. ... the Pistons are 6-13 on the road against Boston in the playoffs. Their last postseason road win against the Celtics (86-75) came May 7, 1991. ... Antonio McDyess is expected to start tonight, with Jason Maxiell coming off the bench.
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BOSTON -- The hotel courtesy bus driver is worried, and the woman who helped a passenger seek some lost luggage argued that her beloved Boston Celtics should be the underdog.
"I don't have any nails left," she said. "I can't take any more Game 7's."
They seem a little anxious here.
They felt relief when their Celtics survived yet another seventh game by getting past Cleveland on Sunday, but the basketball fans in Boston are concerned with the arrival of the Detroit Pistons for the start of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals tonight.
People around here make it sound like the Pistons have been sitting poolside someplace warm sipping umbrella drinks while their Celtics have run the gauntlet of road disasters in two series that went seven games with Atlanta and Cleveland.
The Pistons have been resting some, and Chauncey Billups has been healing, but what should be a good thing in Boston has become a bad thing.
The Celtics have earned four home games in this best-of-seven series, and they have not lost a home game in the playoffs through two rounds. That's the stuff that helps make championships.
Yet all anybody seems to talk about is that they have lost all their road games in the playoffs.
Seems to me, since the Celtics have the advantage through the playoffs in homecourt, it should not be that big a concern. Hold court, and then hold a trophy.
The Pistons, meanwhile, have to wreck the tea party in Boston by stealing a game. Stealing one in Orlando seemed likely. Not so much here.
Still, they worry.
The concern in Boston stems from the pressure that builds through a series of games against the same team, the adjustments, the drama and the officials' calls. Always having to win at home means few mistakes, and no bad shooting nights.
The fans seem to be feeling the pressure worse than the players.
It has a few people here on radio and quietly aside picking the Pistons in six games because they now doubt their team that punished all the rest in the regular season.
Of course, in Detroit and Michigan, it seems like a very reasonable look at things. The Pistons are experienced, and know how to win on the road. The Pistons are deeper than last year. The Pistons are, well, the Pistons.
But here?
They don't like that the rest of the country thinks their football Patriots cheated in "Spygate." And they don't like that their basketball team keeps taking them to the edge.
My advice: Get used to it. Buy some fake fingernails to chew.
This will not be an easy series. Boston has not been doing it the easy way, and these Pistons rarely do anything the easy way. Remember Richard Hamilton's line: "If it ain't rough, it ain't right."
Detroit has the advantage in the backcourt with Billups and Hamilton. Boston has the advantage up front, especially with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. And the benches, role players and coaches look like a draw at this point.
My take: The series will go seven games. If the Pistons are going to win it, the one they must win in Boston will have to be that last pressure-laden game that already has people around here worried.
all taken from http://www.mlive.com/pistons/
The Regular Season Matchups:
These really don't mean much to me other than a few things. The first game, Lindsey Hunter sparked the Stons and Chillups finishd them off. Boston shot something like 49-40 percent but Detroit made the plays. Both teams were plenty rested for this game. The second meeting in Detroit was a battle. Glen Davis was the big reason Boston won. It didn't help that Chauncey and Hamilton missed huge FT's late. This game erased a lot of doubts from last summer/fall about Bostons bench and they proved it all season long. The only scheduling factor was this was Detroits only home game outta a 8 game stretch I believe. Boston won the third matchup at home. It was a tight game till the 4th. The Celtics outscored them 21-11. I say both great Boston defense and scheduling killed Detroit. They playd a 5-game set out West then came home to play he Sonics. That was the great comback game. They spent a lot more energy than they should have.
The Series Price:
I see at Bookmaker that the line is even bet down to +115 now for Detroit. If your counting on Detroit winning the series playing them as ML dogs in the games at the Garden would be wiser. Thats my opinion though. Its funny the debate from last week you guys had and this is def not the line many expected. LOL.
Boston Tired?:
Don't kid yourself, two seven game sets for a team thats older for most part is not easy. Ask Detroit two years ago. They went through a mentally tough series with the Cavs that went the full seven in the semifinals. They then had to turn around at home and lost to Miami immediately in Game One. They were exhausted and just had nothing left for that series. Cleveland is a helluva defensive team. They made the Celtics work for that series.
Ray Allen:
Crazy that article that someone posted earlier today about his ankles and the Sonics doctors advice that he sit out B2B's this season and whatnot. Honestly, it may have caught up to him. It could be Clevlands defense. I do know hat Cleveland uses a similar approach as Detroit does to defend him. Throughout their careers, Hamilton and Allen have had great battles. I think Rip can get to him this series though. He must be on the attack.
Stons Guards and a Look Back to Cleveland Last Year:
It wasn't Boobie Gibson or James that was the biggest factor last season. It wasn't even the referee's in Game 6. It was Pavlovic and Hughes. Detroit has a great backcourt combo. You saw them feast on small guys like Gordon, Hinrich, Nelson etc the past few years. Last year the Cavs big guards gave Detroit so much trouble. Especially Chillups. Now, we see Rondo and Shuttlesworth. This will be no problem. I think this is a huge factor in this series. Obviously, it all depends on the hammy. Stuckey also has a huge advantage if they decide to trot Sam out there. Even against house. Thats an added element they didn't have last year.
Coaching:
The biggest coaching improvement for Flip this season was actually made last summer. And not by himself. It was Joe D's plan to more atheltic and get the young guys experience. I have yet to see Detroit fatigue yet in these playoffs. Game thre in Philly they looked old and tired. I chalk that up more to the month they basically took off before that. I hope Flip decides to push the ball some. That is essential against this great Boston defense. Doc has never ben a great coach. Ainge gave him a nice hand to play with. I think he improved as a coach this year but at the same time he has been indecisive in the playoffs.
Role Players:
This is going to be huge in this series. Perkins vs McDyess is a big battle. Dice really went cold the 2nd half of the year. That being said, he has come back to life in thep layoffs. His defense and rebounding have been tremendous. Perkins has his ups and downs. He can be sneaky though and be a factor as we may put to much attention to the other starters. Its pretty much confirmed that Antonio will start Game One. It had been up in the air. James Posey is the guy that concerns me. His defense and timely shooting. Right behind him is PJ Brown. I swear he never misses that little push line drive jumper. Stuckey, with his creativeness will be huge. The kid isn't scared of the stage after averaging 22 mpg so far in the playoffs. The week off should do wonders for Maxy as he has tired at times this 2nd half and playoffs.
Predictions:
I don't have one. I feel the situation is their for Detroit. In think you'll see 2-3 road wins in this series. I think Rasheed is going to be great(again) this series. He and KG are the two best players on the court. I think every game will be pretty ugly. This could be reminiscent of the Pacers-Stons EC Finals of a few years ago where we will see some totals in the 160's. You know who I am rooting for and I say good luck to all of you Celtic fans. Two proud traditions that have had some great playoff series.
I'll keep any plays I play on this series in this thread, so you'll have to sift through.
Below are some articles. Enjoy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON -- Tonight's Eastern Conference finals Game 1 matchup between Detroit and Boston will be playoff game No. 144 for Rasheed Wallace, the last 93 coming in a Pistons uniform.
With that kind of experience comes wisdom; and with that wisdom comes the knowledge this postseason journey may be the last for this group.
That's why this playoff run, one they hope to extend beyond this series against the Celtics, is so important.
"We know our time is running slim," said Wallace, 33, who this fall will enter the final year of the five-year deal he signed with Detroit after its 2004 NBA title run. "So we're gonna go out there and come up with some victories."
This is Detroit's sixth consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference finals, a feat that has not been done since the Los Angeles Lakers' "Showtime" teams of the 1980s advanced to the Western Conference finals eight consecutive seasons (1982-89). During that span, the Lakers won four NBA titles.
Meanwhile, this Pistons team has won one NBA title (2004), and made two trips to the NBA Finals.
Winning an NBA championship alone is motivation, but veterans such as Lindsey Hunter understand there is added significance to this trip to the Eastern Conference finals.
"We're trying to make our own legacy," said Hunter, 37, who probably will retire after this season. "We're trying to get another title, and be considered a dynasty."
Hunter, who has won NBA titles with Detroit (2004) and the Lakers (2002), understands there is only one way for the Pistons to achieve that goal.
"The only thing we can do is try to win another title and be mentioned with those great teams," Hunter said. "You always envy teams like San Antonio who have won so many NBA titles throughout these years. You want to get back and compete for one, and this is our chance."
Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations, has resisted the temptation in recent years to tinker with his core group that includes Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton.
However, he has gone about remaking the team's roster to reflect a Pistons squad that is focused on becoming younger and more athletic, while maintaining a certain veteran presence.
At some point, a transition will occur in which those young players assume positions of prominence.
"Part of that is going to be how healthy they (veterans) keep themselves," Dumars said in an earlier interview. "The other part is going to be the young guys. If they develop as quickly and as much as we'd like for them, my veteran guys won't have to carry as much of the load as they do now. If you lessen their load and some of these young guys can come in and take some of that off of them, I see us staying around for the next few years."
Signs of Detroit's transition already are apparent.
Third-year forward Jason Maxiell has become a regular off the bench and a part-time starter. Rookie Rodney Stuckey, a second-team all-NBA rookie selection, was instrumental in Detroit defeating the Orlando Magic in the Pistons' second-round series.
After Billups suffered a strained right hamstring injury early in Game 3 at Orlando, Stuckey finished out that game, a 111-86 Pistons loss. The 6-foot-5 rookie then was thrust into the starting lineup for the next two games, helping the Pistons win both to close out the series.
"When I'm out there, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win," Stuckey said. "I'm just trying to do my job, that's all."
So are veterans such as McDyess, who understands how special a trip to the Eastern Conference finals is, even if the Pistons have made it look routine.
"It always means something to make it this far," McDyess said recently. "And for me and some of the older guys, it means a lot more because you never know how many chances you'll get."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON -- Ray Allen is one of the league's premier 3-point shooters with a well-earned reputation for delivering big shots when his team has needed him most.
But in the playoffs, when Allen should be at the top of his game because he is playing with -- record-wise at least -- the best team in the NBA, he has looked nothing like the sharpshooter people are accustomed to seeing.
Even with Allen in one of the worst shooting funks of his career, do not think for a minute the Detroit Pistons are not worried about him.
In fact, his shooting woes actually have increased the level of attention Detroit will pay to him, well aware that keeping him under wraps will go far in the Pistons' quest to win Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight.
Allen talked to reporters about his shooting funk after Boston's practice Monday.
"I think, personally, it's been tougher than anything I've ever seen," said Allen, whose 38.5-percent shooting from the field in the playoffs is a career worst.
The defense used by the Cleveland Cavaliers in limiting Allen in Boston's second-round series is similar to the defensive approach Detroit has taken against him in the past.
Defensive schemes certainly have limited Allen's scoring, which is down to 12.7 points per game after he averaged 17.4 points during the regular season.
But Pistons coach Flip Saunders believes there is more to the 32-year-old's shooting struggles.
"It's a long season," Saunders said. "He's a little bit older. With the intensity, and as far as how hard he's played. Those guys, they ate up a lot of minutes, those first 60 games. Those minutes that get eaten up early in the season, you try and get rest late; it doesn't matter once you eat them up and your legs get a little bit dead."
Still, Saunders has seen enough of Allen to know he is too good a shooter to struggle much longer.
"He can go out and get a game where he's going to go get six out of seven 3s," Saunders said. "So that's why you can't say, 'Well, I'm just not going to guard him.' "
Limiting Allen's scoring will fall primarily on the shoulders of Pistons guard Richard Hamilton, who has known Allen since he was in high school and Allen was a star at UConn.
"He was kind of like my chaperone, trying to get me to come there," said Hamilton, who ultimately picked Connecticut and led the Huskies to a national title in 1999.
Hamilton, who never played with Allen at Connecticut, also has taken note of Allen's shooting woes in the playoffs.
Knowing Allen as well as he does, Hamilton is not banking on him missing too many more shots.
"When you play against Ray, he's a great shooter," Hamilton said. "So you can't sleep on him at any point of time of the game."
Garnett also a threat
Kevin Garnett is one of the Pistons' biggest concerns in this series especially his role in the Celtic's pick-and-roll offense.
"He's probably the best 17-, 18-foot shooter in the league," said Saunders, who coached him in Minnesota. "So he can pick-and-pop and shoot that."
Odds & ends
Paul Pierce is the only player for either team to play in the 2002 second-round playoff series between Detroit and Boston, which the Celtics won in five games. ... the Pistons are 6-13 on the road against Boston in the playoffs. Their last postseason road win against the Celtics (86-75) came May 7, 1991. ... Antonio McDyess is expected to start tonight, with Jason Maxiell coming off the bench.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON -- The hotel courtesy bus driver is worried, and the woman who helped a passenger seek some lost luggage argued that her beloved Boston Celtics should be the underdog.
"I don't have any nails left," she said. "I can't take any more Game 7's."
They seem a little anxious here.
They felt relief when their Celtics survived yet another seventh game by getting past Cleveland on Sunday, but the basketball fans in Boston are concerned with the arrival of the Detroit Pistons for the start of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals tonight.
People around here make it sound like the Pistons have been sitting poolside someplace warm sipping umbrella drinks while their Celtics have run the gauntlet of road disasters in two series that went seven games with Atlanta and Cleveland.
The Pistons have been resting some, and Chauncey Billups has been healing, but what should be a good thing in Boston has become a bad thing.
The Celtics have earned four home games in this best-of-seven series, and they have not lost a home game in the playoffs through two rounds. That's the stuff that helps make championships.
Yet all anybody seems to talk about is that they have lost all their road games in the playoffs.
Seems to me, since the Celtics have the advantage through the playoffs in homecourt, it should not be that big a concern. Hold court, and then hold a trophy.
The Pistons, meanwhile, have to wreck the tea party in Boston by stealing a game. Stealing one in Orlando seemed likely. Not so much here.
Still, they worry.
The concern in Boston stems from the pressure that builds through a series of games against the same team, the adjustments, the drama and the officials' calls. Always having to win at home means few mistakes, and no bad shooting nights.
The fans seem to be feeling the pressure worse than the players.
It has a few people here on radio and quietly aside picking the Pistons in six games because they now doubt their team that punished all the rest in the regular season.
Of course, in Detroit and Michigan, it seems like a very reasonable look at things. The Pistons are experienced, and know how to win on the road. The Pistons are deeper than last year. The Pistons are, well, the Pistons.
But here?
They don't like that the rest of the country thinks their football Patriots cheated in "Spygate." And they don't like that their basketball team keeps taking them to the edge.
My advice: Get used to it. Buy some fake fingernails to chew.
This will not be an easy series. Boston has not been doing it the easy way, and these Pistons rarely do anything the easy way. Remember Richard Hamilton's line: "If it ain't rough, it ain't right."
Detroit has the advantage in the backcourt with Billups and Hamilton. Boston has the advantage up front, especially with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. And the benches, role players and coaches look like a draw at this point.
My take: The series will go seven games. If the Pistons are going to win it, the one they must win in Boston will have to be that last pressure-laden game that already has people around here worried.
all taken from http://www.mlive.com/pistons/
illow:
