Who would have thought letting Rondo score early was part of the Pistons game play?

BOSTON POPPED: Late foul, Billups' free throws lift Pistons past Celtics in marquee matchup

Dang, Saunders not only benched him, but also his ego. That's a serious message to send.

Tay did a great job defensivly on Paul Pierce to make up for his shooting. Think its safe to say that he has too many of these off-nights to ever make up Rip's production on a consistant basis.

So what have we learned?

Billups ownes their PG's. The best part of the game was probably watching Billups bring the opportunist Rhondo back down to earth. Could tell the guy thought he was a baller. What a hot shot trying to use both hands to play call and getting offended when CB took it away. Plus he looked a bit like Boobie Gibson which added to the fun. And what is Eddie House doing on a team?

Hunter can still play in limited mins.

They have no center. Perkins can sometimes put up the numbers playing alongside Garnett but is no match for Sheed/Dyess.

I like the matchups. Garnett will always get his and there is no defense for Ray Allen when he gets hot. But the Pistons effectivly controlled everyone else ( incl Pierce ).

Just one game though. Lets try to keep that in mind. I have a feeling there will be at least 7 more ( incl the post-season)

The interesting thing is that Billups said that Tayshaun told him to consider pump faking on the final shot.

Tay is wise beyond his years, that's for sure.


Also, Max, look at the shots Garnett was getting. He was doing damage, but that was the best possible scenario, having him take contested outside J's. Next game, maybe he misses some of those.

This is priceless!

There are some interesting comments about the game on Celtic Nation. A lot of their posters said that the refs favored us and that C-Bill and Rip grab and bump on a lot on defense.

There are even a couple Pistons fans posts on the game thread.

I think that the Celtics fans think that any game that they don't get at least 35 foul shots and at least 15 more than their opponent is a poorly officiated game.

12/19/07: Pistons @ Celtics - Page 3 - Celtic-Nation.com: Boston Celtics forums

Well, as we've hoped for, Rip and Allen canceled each other out, Tay and Pierce close to canceling each other, KG did better than Sheed, but KG+Perkins got matched pretty closely by Sheed+Dyess. The benches were close, except Pistons bench played better defense. And Chauncey owned the PG position. If Tay can hit a few of his shots and Sheed's post ups bring results, Pistons should have an upper hand in this match up. And Allen is not going to keep hitting those 3's with a hand in his face. He hit a few of those falling out of bounds while Rip was wide open for his. Afflalo kept Allen more or less in check. The guy's defense is very good. He's probably going to replace Lindsey as the best on-the-ball defender on Pistons team. His offensive game is underrated. He could've scored more if he tried, but he knows that that will get his playing time cut, so he sticks to the defense and picks his opportunities to score here and there. He's a very smart player. Lindsey had a great game. I wonder if he's starting to round up into the shape after not playing much at all to start the season. He'd be a great help if he can provide 8-10 min of the same D and hit his shots.

What I didn't like (and that's probably the only thing) is that Pistons had numerous chances to close the game and let Celtics right back in. This won't work in the playoffs - Chauncey will most likely not get that call to decide an outcome of a playoff game.

And, who are bigger whiners? I mean, please, Boston was so much worse than Pistons. And they call Pistons the worst whiners in the NBA.

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I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization. - C.Barkley

The last second call shouldn't have been an issue if the pistons would've closed the deal up by 6 with just over a minute to go. A made shot would've put this baby away. But they didn't score until those foul shots and let Celts tie the game. As far as the tempo of the game slowing down, that's called imposing your will. And Pistons did just that in the 2nd half.

I have not watched the game, so not much comments. However, I have read the Celtics national forum and I have few comments:

1- They think the refs have bet on the game (with pistons win)
2- They did not like that pierce took the last shot
3- Most of them do not discuss their shallow bench
4- Last, they have only 4 pages on this game, compared to 13 so far for the pistons

They also have some immature posters, unlike here (well, if you ignore Darth, of course).