Celtics-Pistons Game Six: Boston Puts Detroit Out Of Our Misery

Tonight in Detroit, despite some third quarter officiating that looked like the Association had ordered a Game 7 on Sunday, the Celtics crushed the Pistons in the fourth quarter and finished their series. And it was so captivating, with so much flow, that it made me want to channel surf, watch a DVD, or maybe do the dishes. Notes below for fans of either team, the Association, or relentlessly ugly basketball.

> The first half gave the Pistons crowd a taste of what was to come, as the grinding pace of most of the series was evident early on. The Celtics also spent far too many shots from their point guards than their stars, but the continued revival of Ray Allen gave them the lead.

> Say this for Rajon Rondo: he rebounds well. I'm pretty sure that Phil Jackson will exploit his weaknesses (no outside shot, questionable decisions under pressure, bad free throw shooting), and Derek Fisher is about to open a world of ancient Jedi point guard trickery on him, but for a game where his man (Chauncey Billups) was scoring, he didn't wilt.

> The Association can not start fining players for flopping fast enough. Most of the second half in this game had bodies on the floor on nearly every possession, both from the teams gearing up on defense, and also for the fact that with so many whistles happening, it seemed like the safest thing to do. It's getting very close to the point where this isn't basketball, and with the league taking out so much of the tension from hard fouls, it has next to no entertainment value.

> Every NBA analyst, when faced with a player getting a technical foul, feels like it's a time to sermonize on how selfish, silly, stupid, et al the player must be for getting hit with it. Rarely, very rarely, you'll hear someone rake the referee over the coals for it. But you never really hear the idea that (a) the single free throw isn't really that big of a deal, in the course of a game, and (b) maybe, just maybe, the technical is kind of the basketball equivalent of the pitcher hitting a batter, in that it isn't something they want to usually do, but might choose on some occasions to change the mood. Tonight, the subtext of "Rasheed Wallace could get a technical and miss Game Seven!" was high. Sheed didn't get that tech, but he's missing Game Seven anyway. The techs didn't really matter.

> Sam Cassel was on the floor tonight, and for the life of me, I can't understand why. He brings nothing to the Celtics now, unless you're so convinced that his veteran presence and yada yada yada is bringing something, when his bad on the ball defense, poor decision-making and bad shooting isn't a problem. I do not get what Eddie House did to stop getting run, but I hope it was worth it.

> There was a play in the third quarter, as the Pistons were building a lead, where Paul Pierce got his man in the air, leaned in and banked in a three... and was called for initiating the contact, a call that I've almost never seen made, and one that was completely out of kilter with the way the game was being called. Serious props to the Celtics for fighting through it.

> Sheed's night wasn't good, and the strongest memory for Pistons Fan will be watching him pick up his fifth foul, go to the bench, then toss a towel into the camera that had come over to get his reaction. For a team that's always in the Final Four, the Pistons are surprisingly bad in tense situations like this.

> How hard was this game to watch? At one point in the fourth, with the game on the line, Jeff van Gundy actually sad, "Post up basketball. It may be boring, but it's efficient!" and continued on his merry way from there. A rule of thumb... when someone tells you how great something is, it's not great. Believe your eyes.

> The Pistons seem to have a future, in that they've got good young players like Jason Maxiell and Rodney Stuckey, and Tayshaun Prince isn't old... but at some point, doesn't the three rounds of playoffs start to give these guys advanced injury issues, not to mention trust problems from past failures? It's not like they won't get in the playoffs again, but they've become the basketball equivalent of the '90s Braves.

> The Pistons had any number of three-point attempts to make the last few minutes of the game meaningful, and they not only didn't make one, they didn't even get close. They looked gassed to me, or at the very least, looking to get on the golf course.

> The Celtics get their rest now, and they also have home court. But even if I did like their chances with a superstar that's uncomfortable in clutch time versus one that thrives on it, here's the only thing I need to know to pick the Lakers... Phil Jackson versus Doc Rivers. Add that to the strong edge that is the Lakers bench, and you can guess where I'm going with the next round pick. But that's for another day...