Pistons serve Celtics first home loss, snaps 12 home game winning streak.
Detroit 87
Boston 85 Final
Pistons just barely squeak by the Celtics who have been unstoppable at home. The Pistons trailed for the most of the game before going on a 9-0 run in the 4th quarter to give them a 7 point lead. Ray Allen was lights out all game tying the game with a big three-pointer with 18.9 secs left on the clock. The following Detroit possession Chauncey Billups turns over the ball to the aggressive defense of Tony Allen. Ensuing Boston possession, they feed the ball to Paul Pierce to finish the game but he misses the 15ft fade away jumper. Detroit rebounds and calls a timeout with little under 2secs left on the clock. Detroit runs an iso-play for their main man Chauncey Billups who abused the Boston point guards the entire 2nd half. This time Tony Allen’s aggressive defense loses the game for the Celtics as Billups pump fakes him into the air and draws the easy shooting foul. With 0.1secs on the clock and the game tied up the announcers exclaim “It’s over!”, even before Billups steps to the free throw line. As usual Billups a 91% free throw shooter nails both of them.
It was a great game that went down to the final seconds, which could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals. At the half it looked like Boston would run away with it but showed that they are inexperienced in close game situations. Pierce was cold for most of the night yet they gave him the final shot because he has faired well for Doc Rivers when he was their only star player. If the ball was in the hands of Ray Allen who was hot the entire night they could have gotten a better look from him, shooting or passing. Billups showed us why he is one of the Elite point guards in the NBA taking advantage of Rondo and House’s uninspiring defense and knocking down big shots in the second half.
first real test the Celtics have had all year. but yeah, looks like the East is a 2 team race b/w Boston and Detroit, with maybe the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland LeBron Jameses having an outside chance of making the ECF.