Celtics Central

As the saying goes, the final score wasn’t indicative of the game. Or maybe it was.

Boston is proving to be a team that can’t stand too much success.

Antonio McDyess was the main Celtic killer, finishing with 21 points and 16 rebounds. He was left open often. He had help from Rip Hamilton with 20 points and Jason Maxiell and Rasheed Wallace with 14 each. But it was Chauncy Billups only three pointer that put the game away late in the 4th quarter.

Detroit jumped on Boston from the opening bell. Their defense was aggressive and, at times, it seemed like there were 6 Pistons on the court. Boston came out confused and lethargic.

The Celtics made just three shots (3-15) in the first quarter. They made just 18 more for the rest of the game. Much of it was due to a smothering Pistons’ defense. The rest was due to missing shots they normally make. They seemed out of sync for most of the game.

The numbers were astounding. At half time, there were a total of 4 made baskets by Boston’s big three. Pierce and Allen had one each.Garnett took only 6 shots and made two. Ray Allen was 1-4, and Paul Pierce was 1-6, though he did go 7-7 from the foul line.

The Celtics fell behind early at 13-4, then closed to 17-22 to end the 1st quarter. They fell behind again in the 2nd, but finished with a 9-4 run to close within 4 at 39-43 by the halftime, thanks to 4 points by Ray Allen, 2 by Garnett and a Rondo inside basket. The Celtics were thoroughly outplayed in the first half. Only their rebounding and foul shooting kept them in the game.

This was the kind of game where the Celtics mystify me. I don’t know whether it was a lack of a killer instinct, or simply not being mentally prepared every game.

This game had HUGE OPPORTUNITY written all over it. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain by coming out strong and loose. They could put a big nail in the coffin of the Pistons by winning this game. Come out ready and get the jump. Get the crowd out of it and put a little desperation into the Piston players’ minds.

Instead, they looked like the guy who just woke up from a nap to answer the door. His eyes aren’t focused. He has pillow hair. He has to think hard to respond to anything you say to him.

The Pistons came out alert, energetic and strong, as expected. For the first time that I can think of, Kendrick Perkins had a better half than Kevin Garnett. You won’t read that sentence often, but it was true. Perkins had 7 points, and only 2 boards in 10 minutes, but generally played very well. The only issue is who was supposed to be covering McDyess? If Perkins was supposed to stay in the middle, then someone else should have rotated out on Antonio. He killed the Cs with mostly open looks from mid range. If not, then Perkins was remiss defensively.

In fact, in the first half, the big three all played fairly poorly. Pierce did get to the line often (7-7) and played good defense. Garnett rebounded pretty well (7). But both players each had three TOs with two of KGs being consecutive offensive fouls. Pierce’s TOs came from a gang tackling defense of the Pistons. Paul was converged on every time he had the ball. The Celtics did not respond well to the Detroit pressure. They had a total of 6 assists at the half. The other problem was that they only had 11 baskets on 30 attempts.

The Pistons first quarter defense was tremendous. They were collapsing on anyone in the middle and the big three anywhere they got the ball. Garnet was blocked from behind by Jason Maxiell on a lazy dunk that got the Palace rocking.

Celtics point guard play was left wanting by both Rondo and Sam Cassell on this night. Cassell didn’t shoot much and he had zero assists, though when he was on the floor the team played reasonably well. He finished with zero points to go with the zero assists. The team’s plus minus with him was at exactly even (zero – which in this case was good ). Rondo had a difficult time again tonight and finished with 2-8 shooting, 4 assists and a plus/minus of -14. But really, neither deliver the kind of performance that would win a ball game.

There simply was not a single Celtic who got it going offensively tonight. The team fought bravely to make runs to come close, but there wasn’t the energy or shooting prowess to get them anywhere near over the hump.

Garnett had 6 at the half and finished with 16, tied with Paul Pierce to lead the Celtics. Ray Allen again had difficulty making shots, and even turned down some lay-ups to pass.

The Celtics shot .318% on 21 of 66 to the Pistons .514 on 36 of 70. The Celtics had 14 TOs with 11 of them by half time, to the Pistons 7 TOs for the game.

Call it…Opportunity Lost.

So the teams go back to Boston tied 2-2 for a game on Wednesday night. This looks like it might go seven games…. again.