I know I posted the Lester no-no, but I really have been ignoring the Sox. For reference they’ve won five in a row and have the insurance clause Bartolo Colon taking the hill tonight for number six. With no Celtics on I will be watching.
Let’s be serious though, no one was watching the Sox last night. It was game one of the Eastern Conference Finals for the Celtics against the Pistons. Coming into the game you had to wonder how the team would respond after an emotionally and physically draining series with the Cavs.
Well they only came out and set the tone with an 8-0 run. The Pistons reminded me of the Rockies last year in the World Series. They were a scorching hot team who were rolling in the playoffs but then had a week off and arguably their best player, Chauncey Billups, had 13 days off after hurting his hamstring. So the Celtics, much like the Sox from last year, we’re in the zone and amped up for the game at home.
The Celtics went in the half up only one as Detroit battled back, but just like the regular season the Celtics separated in the third quarter building a 10 point lead that became 12 going into the fourth. The Pistons managed to get to within eight but a Rajon Rondo three sealed the deal with 1:47 left on the clock and the C’s won game one 88-79. For reference it would have been 88-76 if Tayshaun Prince didn’t throw up a meaningless three at the buzzer.
Once again the rotation for the Celtics was solid. Even if Big Baby didn’t get any minutes as I had predicted in Monday’s column. I love having Eddie House playing every minute that Alien Head Sam Cassell would have played two weeks ago. Good for Doc sitting him on the bench.
As for our starters, KG led the way with 26 points and nine boards. Pierce dumped in 22 with six boards. Our “unproven, rookie point guard” Rajon had 11 (seven in the fourth quarter), five steals, and seven assists. And Perk added five points to his 10 rebounds just for good measure. Ray Allen is still trying to find his touch (nine points on 3-10 shooting) and I wonder after the playoffs end if it’s going to come out that Ray was playing hurt the whole playoffs. Just a thought.
So the boys on ESPN had to eat crow saying the Pistons would win game one. I found it interesting that one of the guys said that this was the best the C’s had played since game seven against Atlanta. Let’s just hope that this is the Celtics team we see for the remainder of the playoffs. It would be great to see them win a road game (or two) and get this series done quickly.
Let’s just hope that, like Da Guy said, Rasheed goes into crazy mode at some point and gets the boot freeing up Garnett to score at will. Wait, didn’t he do that last night? Let’s hope the Celtics have finally hit their stride and will ride this wave of momentum all the way to the NBA Finals.
