http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...kly.countdown/

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Well, that's fine and dandy, but whenever the Pistons lose they do NOT credit the other team. They always say they (Detroit) are the better team and didn't do such and such, and that the loss had nothing to do with what so and so (fill in other team name) did.

It works both ways...so quit crying or start giving others credit where it is deserved.

Injury won't sideline banged-up Billups during East finals

Chauncey Billups probably isn't going to be healthy during the Eastern Conference finals.

Billups refuses, though, to let his sore right hamstring keep him off the court or be an excuse for him and the Detroit Pistons against the Boston Celtics.

"Hurt or not, I still have to play better and fight through it," Billups said Sunday.

If Billups doesn't start playing like Billups, the Pistons are cooked

In this series -- for the first time since Billups arrived in Detroit -- there have been moments when the Pistons seem better off without him. Rookie Rodney Stuckey is not the player Billups is yet. But he is darn good, and more important, he is healthy.

"At times, we look better with Stuck, just because of the pace and how he's been able to play," Saunders said.

Saunders was in no way criticizing Billups. He was just stating a fact. I don't think Billups would argue the point. But both men know the Pistons need Billups to play well.

Billups isn’t ready to sit … but should he?

Billups was a -25 on Saturday. I know it’s misleading to read too much into single-game plus/minus numbers, but in Billups’ four stints on the floor, the Pistons didn’t score more points than they gave up once.

Stuckey, meanwhile, was a +3. Sure, he had the advantage of not facing Boston’s starters 100% of the time, but what if he had? Does anyone think it’d result in a 28-point swing? I don’t see it that way.

McDyess drags Pistons past Big Three

In 2004, the Phoenix Suns traded Stephon Marbury to the New York Knicks. One of the valuable things they got in return wasn’t Antonio McDyess. Oh, they got McDyess, his bum knee and his plunging production, but the Suns didn’t want that and McDyess knew it.

He was nothing more than an “expiring contract.” He was a one-time franchise caliber star whose big-money deal was about to go off the books, freeing cap space for the Suns to get better players. The former No. 2 pick in the draft, former All-Star, former 21-and-12 guy was now an accounting trick; valued not for showing up but for soon leaving.

McDyess called his agent, Andy Miller, and told him to tell the Suns to put him out of his misery.

“Tell them to cut me,” McDyess said.

Miller wouldn’t do it. It wasn’t going to end like this, he told McDyess. Somehow, somewhere, there would be better days.

Jason Maxiell Blocks Kevin Garnett - Game Four ECF - The Big Denial

Must see video

McDyess sparks Pistons in physical Game 4

Another look at the Detroit Pistons' 94-75 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals at the Palace on Monday.

The series, tied at 2-2, returns to Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday.

THE SCENE
Boston's Kevin Garnett goes into a quiet intense mode before games, and the look on his face immediately sends a warning: Do NOT talk to me, Do NOT approach me. Do NOT breathe near me, or otherwise make your presence known to me.

It might be the most serious game face I've seen in over 30 years of sports writing.

By the way, Pistons coach Flip Saunders said before the game that Chauncey Billups is trying to get his game back, and took home extra tapes to study the first three games of the series. Saunders also said he will not hesitate to go with Rodney Stuckey if Billups continues to struggle.

Shout out to the Pistons' drum line. Those guys are part of a good show, and they put on one during rehearsal in the parking lot, too.

Celtics Look for Shots, and a Sense of Urgency

A mere 12 hours after touching down in the wee hours Tuesday morning, the Boston Celtics were back at work. Late afternoon practice/film sessions at home after playoff losses on the road have become a staple of the Celtics’ postseason. They have won only once in eight road games.

After Monday night’s 94-75 loss to the Detroit Pistons in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics flew home, landing shortly after 3 a.m. Everyone convened at the team’s suburban practice facility midafternoon and, once again, they watched film of a game in which they did a lot of things wrong. The series is tied, 2-2, with Game 5 on Wednesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden.

There was plenty on the videotape to pick apart. The Celtics made only 21 field goals. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that represents the second fewest baskets in the shot-clock era for any conference final or N.B.A. finals game. In 1999, the Portland Trail Blazers managed only 19 field goals in an 85-63 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals. In the first and third quarters combined, the Celtics made only seven baskets.

Celtics in another tight series; fatigue starting to show

Are the Boston Celtics burnt out?

After their 94-75 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday night, it seemed that the team which finished the regular season with the best record in the NBA was running out of gas at a crucial time.

Maybe the loss was just another example of the much discussed road woes that have landed the C’s with a 1-7 record on the road (straight-up and against the spread) through these playoffs. But perhaps there’s more to it than that.

After going to seven games in both of their previous playoff series, the Celtics have now played 16 games in 31 days and that circuitous route to the conference finals seems to have started taking a toll. Fatigue usually manifests itself most visibly on the defensive end and the normally stout Boston defense has given up an average of 93 points in the last three games, including 103 points in Game 2 in Boston.

After that game, even Celtics players admitted they were suffering the effects of a grueling playoff stretch.

McDyess raises game knowing the end is near

It was around this time last year that Antonio McDyess gave up. The Detroit Pistons had just lost their fourth straight game to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference final in yet another playoff failure. And the 32-year-old with the scarred knees and title-free résumé surrendered. "Tonight, I accepted that I'm never going to win," he told reporters, despairing.

A lot can change in a year, of course, and if anybody should have known that, it was the man from Mississippi. Monday night, Detroit's latest championship chase had reached its latest crisis point, and it was the unlikely McDyess who gave it life. His season-best 21 points and 16 rebounds were the centrepiece of Detroit's less-lopsided-than-it-looked 94-75 win, and his desperation - on every play, it seemed - was just as important as the numbers. Detroit lives, and so McDyess's hope lives. That's how it works.

Detroit Pistons guards, Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton, get some recognition from across the pond

Mark Woods of The Guardian, one of the major newspapers in London, give Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton some props in Tuesdays paper.

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With freshness in mind, Pistons opt not to practice on off days

Fresh off their Game 4 win, the Pistons elected not to practice Tuesday. Pistons coach Flip Saunders said he thought a day of rest would better serve his team before tonight's Game 5.

He said, in hindsight, he thought his team played tired in Saturday's Game 3 loss, and he didn't want a repeat of that problem.

"Sometimes you don't realize, but for 8:30 games, you get done so late," Saunders said. "We got in at 3:30, guys to their place around 4 in the morning."

Pistons have the edge now

The Celtics might be wearing down; not a lot, but enough to swing the balance of power. Tonight will be their 19th playoff game in 38 days. The Big Three aren't spring chickens, and it has been a long time since any of them have endured this kind of postseason grind.

"The first thing about fatigue is it starts wearing on you emotionally," Saunders said. "And I think the first thing you start seeing is there may be a change in how a team starts playing a little bit. And I thought we looked fatigued, as far as in Game 3, for some reason. They looked a tad fatigued (in Game 4). Their shot selection was a little bit more frivolous than it was in the other games. And that always happens with fatigue and that happens with pressure."

Garnett has to take over for Celtics

Garnett can do just about everything there's to do on a basketball court. He's a 7-foot guy who can swish the 18-footer, handle the ball like a guard, and defend like Lawrence Taylor. He's the consummate teammate -- dishing off, calling out switches, and getting in the faces of the young bucks who sometimes need to be told how it's done. Russell himself said he thinks of Garnett the way he thinks of his own children.

Given the choice between Garnett and Rasheed Wallace, we'd take Garnett 100 times out of 100.

Solid Foundation vs. Quick Renovation

This was an all-or-nothing trade for Boston; the Pistons, regardless of the outcome, will be back.

“There’s no one, by-the-book way to build a contender,” Dumars said. “You have two totally different ways of how these two teams got to where they are right now. Danny was fortunate to get a couple of All Stars — maybe future Hall of Famers.”

Pistons' Hamilton strains elbow in Game 5 with Celtics - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

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Also, Sheed strained his middle finger. It might be stuck in the up position for game 6.

Maybe now when he does his customary have to hug KG at the end of the game, he'll poke him in the eye.