CELTICS WIN ON THE ROAD

Ray Allen wasn’t his usual self, Paul Pierce was content in distributing the ball, Kevin Garnett sat out most of the first half after being whistled with two early fouls. The Detroit Pistons suddenly caught fire and unloaded a 13-0 bomb to erase the Celtics early lead. But then again it was just the first quarter. The Boston Celtics, criticized for losing six road games against the No. 8 seeded Atlanta Hawks and the No 4. Cleveland Cavaliers, sent a message to all NBA fans that when the chips are down and everyone saying that the series will be won by the Pistons after stealing one in Boston, The Celtics can win on the road if needed. The Celtics came back to life and showed the stuff reminiscent of their 31 road wins to beat the Detroit Pistons 95-80 and return home court advantage to the Celtics.

After scoring most of the points in their game 2 loss, the Big Three this time showed what the rest of the team is made as the reserves scored 24 points as compared to their paltry game 2 output. After the Pistons regained their bearing in the early minutes to lead 17-15, the Boston reserves starring veteran Sam Casell answered with a 10-0 bomb together with James Posey three pointers. From thereon the Pistons played catch up for the whole game.

There was a lot of reaching in fouls not called plus the physicality and pressure defense of the game but both teams controlled their turnovers and concentrated on their team defense and traps. The only bright spot on the Pistons side was rookie point guard Rodney Stuckey who revived the team when they were down by 24 points to score17 markers which was predicated on three point plays and steals. Just like their game 1 loss, Chauncey Billups was nowhere to be found as he scored just 6 points and was not much of a factor the whole game. Three Pistons scored double figures while six did it for the Celtics.

The confidence of the Celtics is certainly overwhelming, but remember this is a Piston’s team that responds well to debacles like this so expect game 4 to be the big deciding factor of this series. IF the Celtics win again then look for them to get in the finals while a win for the Pistons will definitely make both teams go the distance.