You've obviously NEVER watched the Pistons then.

No, not really. I'll admit that. What I'm basing my thoughts on is tonight's game, which is really all that matters.

All I know is when a team outshoots the other by 20% and only has a five point lead with about four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the other team, despite shooting horribly, still has a chance to win the game. The Celtics had the chance to tie it and they couldn't execute. The Pistons should've had a 20 point lead throughout the entire game. Instead, unlike the Celtics, they were slap-happy throughout the entire game and the free throws kept the Celtics in the game.

It was only when the Celtics took out their starters that they upped it to 19. The Pistons are going to need a better effort of Wednesday night if they want to win in Boston. I expect the Celtics to shoot the ball a lot better, so if the Pistons become slap-happy again, they're not going to win.

Almost half of the Celtics points were from free throws. Which means Detroit played sloppy.

But once the game started, and Detroit came out hard, it was over. Everyone knew it. When Detroit actually wants to play, they win.

It's hard to say "If our FG% was better, then ________"... If the team visibly missed a bunch of wide open shots, then ok, but it's clear Detroit made them shoot bad with great defense, just like Boston made Detroit shoot bad last game.

Detriot HAS to win the next game to win teh series.

I don't believe so. If they lose, they win game 6.

And I completely believe that they are pretty much the only team that would be able to beat Boston in a game 7.

I doubt it.
They have a better shot at ending it in 6 at home.

There you go. The Celtics didn't have anywhere near close to a good game tonight (except for rebounds) yet they were in the game the whole way through thanks to the Pistons sloppy play. This Pistons came out great in the first quarter, and yet because of their sloppy play they almost blew it.

If they wouldn't have played sloppy they would've won by 50.

Oh look. I just did the exact same thing as you.

See how ridiculous I sound!

But they did play sloppy. There's no getting around that. The Celtics had a chance to make a run in the end, but they didn't. The Pistons deserved to win tonight and they did.

And Boston got shut down and shot shitty.

We can play the "if" game all night.

Once the Pistons scored the first 8 points, the game was over.

But wasn't it a little sad then that for a team that got shut down and shot shitty, that they were within five points with less than five minutes to go in the final quarter? Shouldn't Detroit have put their foot down on the Celtics throat in the third quarter instead of letting them hang around for most of the game?

You still don't realize that even if Boston tied it, or went ahead, they had already lost.

When a team wins after only scoring the first 8 points, then it's not close, no matter what the score.

No team in the league can beat the Pistons when they want to play.

It seems that whichever team *needs* a win, gets a win in this series. It certainly seems headed for a game 7. Both teams throughout the year have shown they can win on the others floor... Boston is 2-1 at Detroit, Detroit is 2-2 in Boston this year (including the regular season). I don't think homecourt is going to play as big of a role this round.

As for tonights game, I thought the officiating was horrendous, and I couldn't help but wonder if they had money on the Celts! There was a lot of times I didn't think it was being called evenly on both sides. At one point in the 4th quarter, Boston had 62 points, and 32 of them were free throws! They shot nearly 40 for the game! It was just insane at some of the stuff they were calling, and it was talked about a lot during the press conferences at the end.

It felt like a game that should have been a 30 point Detroit win, but the refs singlehandedly kept it close. I don't believe I've once ever this year complained about unfair officiating, but tonight was just blatant... the refs needed to trade in their pinstripes for some Celtic jerseys!

Reading between the lines, I think the Pistons are pissed off about it, and feel it's the league pushing the 'golden boys'. Hopefully they'll come out with a chip on their shoulder in game 5 and play with some passion.

funny, i could have sworn the refs were wearing PISTONS jerseys beneath their shirts...

Because the Pistons playing sloppy defense for a game (they still only gave up 75 ) is just implausible.

It'll be interesting to see how they come out in Game 5. If it's with a chip on their shoulder they're only going to get into more foul trouble in Boston. If it's with passion then they should be okay as long as it's restrained. I expect the Celtics to do the same though after the way they played tonight. Garnett and Pierce have had a strong series thus far, minus this game of course, and I don't expect them to come out again with a similar type of game on Wednesday, especially at home.

It'll also be interesting to see what Billups does after landing awkwardly on that hamstring again. He came up with a clutch shot down the stretch and all the credit in the world has to be given to him for making it, but how will he start the game on the road? If he plays a similarly to what he did in Game's 3 and 4, it could be a long night. The Celtics would just need to take advantage of it at home.

The Celts shot 39 free throws on 75 points! The Pistons had 26 freebies on more FG attempts and 94 points - and by all accounts were the more aggresive team. The more aggressive team almost always is the one with more freebies. It's pretty tough to explain the disparity.

I only hope this happens in reverse once this series. Watch the Pistons go to the line 40 times in a game and tell me that something isn't wrong.

We've actually been used to it (not really against the Pistons though). Tonight was the first night in the entire playoffs where the Celtics had the distinct upper hand at the line. That probably speaks more to the Celtics play during the playoffs, but they were due for a game like this.

I like to think I'm pretty objective with the refs, and I usually hate whining about them. It's something I almost never do, and if they had lost tonight, I'd probably say nothing as it always sounds like 'sour grapes'.

But, since they won by 19 points, I thought I'd point out the obvious. Having watched damn near every minute of every Pistons game for several years, I'd say they didn't play that differetly on defense than normal, but the foul calls were way off the norm.

You could say the game was called 'closer' than normal, but that wouldn't explain why Boston was at their average fouls/free throws given up. I mean, the stats don't lie... Detroit free throws given up were WAY higher than any time this post season; Boston's were at about average. At the same time, neither team played that differently than the 'norm' on defense. That alone suggests very highly that the game was called closer on only one side of the ball!

Well I think another large reason for the gap in free throws was simply because the Pistons didn't take the ball inside. They lived with the jump shot and they won with it. If they had taken it more inside I'm sure they would've gotten more calls.

The Lakers-Spurs game so far should've been a bigger blowout than Game 2 instead of being such a close game as rigged by the refs.

Didn't we just see this game last night?

this one is better though.