i'm a bit surprised noone is talking about the Celtics-Pistons matchup. either noone cares or they were simply unaware. Anyway Pistons won in Boston, 87-85, just in case noone else knows.
Pistons Show Celtics How Much There Is To Know
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...ge=dime-071220
BOSTON -- Kevin Garnett wasn't afraid to come out afterward and state exactly what this game was: a measuring stick.
And one measure of how good the new and improved Boston Celtics are was gleaned by listening to Chauncey Billups afterward.
"That is an elite team," Billups said.
Elite, maybe, but not elite enough to measure up to the franchise that has been the class of the Eastern Conference for the better part of the decade.
Elite, maybe, but not smart enough to avoid a boneheaded play at the end.
Elite, maybe, but not wise enough to get the ball into the hands of Ray Allen or Garnett, the two guys who had been putting their heart and soul into every second of this playoff-like game, instead of giving it to Paul Pierce on their final possession, entrusting the biggest shot of the game to a player who had been looking tentative all night.
There are at least a dozen different reasons why the Detroit Pistons were able to eke out an 87-85 victory over Boston on Wednesday night in what was easily one of the most compe ive, riveting and intense games we've ever seen played in mid-December, but all those reasons begin to boil down to the same common denominators: experience, savvy and depth.
When did the Pistons begin to seize control of the game? Not until the early part of the fourth quarter when Celtics coach Doc Rivers gave Rajon Rondo a rest and handed over the ballhandling chores to Eddie House, who could barely get the ball over the halfcourt line against the suffocating defense of Lindsey Hunter, still regarded as perhaps the top on-the-ball defender in the league. A 9-2 run put the Pistons ahead 70-67 before Rondo returned, and Detroit never trailed again.
When did the Pistons deliver the knockout punch? Well, the play-by-play and the replays will tell you it came when Billups faked Tony Allen off his feet and drew a foul with 0.1 seconds left that sent him to the line for the tiebreaking and game-deciding free throws. But a big assist came moments earlier when the Pistons were exiting their timeout and Tayshaun Prince noticed that Tony Allen had checked back in as a defender.
"Tay told Chauncey to give Tony Allen a pump fake because Tony was just coming in off the bench cold," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said.
Billups confirmed the story, saying Prince gave the same message to Richard Hamilton knowing that one of the two was going to end up with the ball in his hands for the final shot.
"Anybody could have went for that [fake]," Garnett said afterward, cautioning everyone not to single out Tony Allen for blame. "This was a good game for us to learn from and dissect. We wanted to measure where we were, and like Paul said, I'd rather deal with [a loss] now than later. No one said this was going to be easy, and we just have to go through this type of process and learn from it."
The loss was only the third of the season (and the first at home) for the Celtics, who will continue to measure themselves over the rest of this month as they play Chicago and then Orlando before embarking on a four-games-in-five-nights West Coast trip to close out December. They'll have a 29-game body of evidence to sort through by the time January rolls around, and we'll all have a better measure of whether this Celtics team is truly as elite as Billups was calling them, or whether they're merely a very good team with some very real flaws that'll need to be addressed before the playoffs come around.
"No one's going to remember this game next week," Saunders said. "The statement right now is you have two teams that are pretty evenly matched."
We'll go ahead and partially agree with Saunders' opinion that no one is going to remember this game a week from now, but we'll qualify that agreement by limiting it to the Pistons. They will find it easy to put this one in their rearview mirror, but the same cannot be automatically said for the Celtics.
This game will stick with them because this game humbled them, and truth be told, they were a team in need of some humility after breaking out of the gate with a 20-2 record that was among the greatest starts in NBA history.
Pierce was kicking himself afterward for not letting a little more time come of the clock before he attempted his 15-foot fadeaway from the corner that everyone in the arena could tell was going to be two feet short from the moment it left his hand. Tony Allen was beating himself up for falling for Billups' pump fake, and Rivers was no doubt second-guessing his own late-game subs utions when he turned first to House and then to Tony Allen instead of going with his starter Rondo, who had played one of the better games of his career (14 points on 7-for-10 shooting with seven assists and three steals).
The Celtics will get another chance Jan. 6 to measure themselves against the Pistons, only next time it'll be on Detroit's home court. And since it is still very, very early in a long, long season, the Celtics' hurt from this loss will have faded by then. But what the Celtics will hang on to is their memories of how electric the building felt, how intense the game was played and how close they already are to being equals with the Pistons.
"I think losing games levels you out. As much as you don't like it, it always humbles you and makes you put in that hard work," Ray Allen said.
The Celtics are very good, but this loss might be exactly the thing they needed to get a better understanding of where they stand. Because even though they stand alone atop the overall NBA standings, no one can rightfully say -- especially after this loss -- that the Celtics are the class of the league. They may be by the time mid-June rolls around, but they aren't yet. And in order for them to make it to mid-June, they're eventually going to have to get past a Pistons team that they couldn't quite measure up to in mid-December
I hope all of these sports casters and other media types take this to heart as well. Yeah they are good, but stop verbally handing them the trophy.The Celtics are very good, but this loss might be exactly the thing they needed to get a better understanding of where they stand.
well,first Championship caliber team the face so far in the reg season,and they loose.
enough said I guess about the overrated Celtics.
where are the Celtics trolls when you need them?
Is a 2 point loss in a Dcember game that no one will remeber 2 days from now and the Pistons needed free throws to win. It don't mean a thing because the Pistons can go on tomorrow and lose to the Bobcats.
Yeah losing by 2 points to a good team is not the end of the world. Celtics still very much contenders.
Contenders,yes
the Best team in the NBA, no.
I can't wait to see Celts/Pistons in the playoffs. Hopefully that is the East Finals. That will be as good or better then the 2005 East Finals 7 game series vs Miami. The Celts really should consider a veteran point guard for a series like that. Cassell anyone?
That seemed like it was a good game. I should have tuned in to watch that one istead of that pathetic showing by the Spurs.
Record wise yes but is too early to annoint any team the best team label. These are the best teams so far in no particular order. My opinion only.
1-Boston
2-Phoenix
3-San Antonio
4-Detroit
5-Orlando
how about losin to a scrub team by 2pts, is the end of the world for us spursfans...
Is a regular season game! The Spurs will be okay.
regular season wise ,yes I can agree with it.
the playoffs are a totally diferent world though.
I just don't think teams like Orlando or Boston can perform at the same level in the playoffs because of the lack of playoffs games experience.
I think Boston will be fine in the playoffs. I am sorry about I am not just going to say the Pistons will win after they imploded the last 2 years in the East Finals. Thats not say Boston will win it all but they have enough to get there and I disagree I think they have enough veteran players with experience in playoff games. Lest we forget but KG,Allen and Pierce have been in playoff games. I also should mention that Posey has been in the Finals and has his ring. Those players alone are talented enough to cover up for Perkins and Rondo and Tony Allen who might struggle in some postseason games. Besides think about it. Outside of Detroit what team in the East can beat Boston? Orlando beat them once but would you take them over the Celts in a series? Or the anemic offense of the Cavs?
Boston's gonna be tuff. Anyone who says they're overrated is silly. People are trying to underrate them because of their schedule...looking, begging to see flaws that will confirm their "overrated" status. There is almost a glee in this writers article. A "see...see...they aint so hot" at ude.
That is a mistake.
These guys are for real.
Last edited by SouthernFried; 12-20-2007 at 10:50 AM.
That was an incredible game…Both teams are playing great ball…
East Finals preview? That will be a great series.
Even though they have lost three games, I remain confident the Celtics will go undefeated this season.
The way both teams played, it was a statement game. Piston wanted to prove they were still the best in the East, Celtics wanted to prove them otherwise. Although noone was proved right in this game, noone was also proved wrong.
although i think only the biased media and silly fans think that they are and insists in nickpicking their flaws. it would be a huge mistake to overlook the things they do have over what they don't have.
on the flip side, biased media and silly fans do tend to overlook what they don't have in favor of what they do have. it would also be a costly mistake for them if they think elite teams won't take advantage of their weaknesses. witness how Prince took advantage of a coaching mistake by Rivers when Doc sent in a cold Tony Allen in favor of his starter Rondo to guard Billups in the final sequence of the game. He passed this information to Billups, Billups in turn passed it to Hamilton. Billups eventually baited Tony Allen into fouling him. 2 free throws and a win.
you got me there
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