Pistons @ Celtics Preview

[celtic_pride]

Okay folks, the biggest game of the season in the NBA (IMHO) happens on Thursday (Australian time) when the rampaging Boston Celtics host the Eastern Confrence power of the past 5 years, the Detroit Pistons at the New Garden.

This is an early preview of the East Confrence finals, (Lets face it, no other team in the east will trouble either Boston or the Pistons in the playoffs, except maybe for the Cavs) and it's bit of a quirk of the draw that Boston and Detroit play on 3 times in the regular season ...

This is such a great match-up, I hope foxtel and/or espn can do what they did in America and changed the schedule and put this game live ..

BTW Jesus should be back for the Celtics (there is some rumours going around that he wasn't really injured but just 'having a rest' but who knows ???)

I have a healthy respect for the Pistons, and think they have such a great and strong defence and talented line-up, and it will be a very, hard brutal struggle, but I think the Celtics will get the job done at home again..

Celts to win by a 5 point margain in OT

God though I can't wait though for this though, we need this win to add to our legit credibilty as a championship contender ...

 

[Benny_]

Boston to win comfortably

 

[peternorth]

pistons are crap anyway, waiting for the celtics to play a real title contender


































just kidding

 

[mdc]

celtic_pride, you're making it very hard for me to root for Boston. And I really wanted to root for them, since I love KG. But if every win comes at the cost of another gushing post on this forum, I might have to start rooting against them.

Come on, a post about a regular season game 2 days in advance? Especially an Eastern Conference game?

 

[peternorth]

X BOX X also loves posting about chris paul. cant find the post now but it said something like Paul has 5 assists in 5 minutes!

 

[celtic_pride]

celtic_pride, you're making it very hard for me to root for Boston. And I really wanted to root for them, since I love KG. But if every win comes at the cost of another gushing post on this forum, I might have to start rooting against them.

Come on, a post about a regular season game 2 days in advance? Especially an Eastern Conference game?

No difference to the dude who wrote about the Spurs V Lakers preview ..
Come on, how many times in the PAST have I had the oppotunity (and I've followed Boston since 1992) to see the Celtics be a legit contender ...
I think this is a valid thread, featuring the two best teams in the East ...
I go a bit OTT at times, but for god's sake, it's been pretty hard as a Celtics fan the last few years, esp last year, with everything that happened, and losing the lottery and the deaths of Red Auerbach and DJ ..
For the first time as an NBA Fan, I am very confident going into each game expecting a Celtics victory

It is a very rare time to follow a team that is 20-2 ..
ESPN have projected Boston to be 75 -7 LOL, but I wouldn't go that far

Anyhow it is a massive game IMHO and worthy of discussion.
I have a lot of time and respect for the Pistons, the only team that could probably challenge the Celtics in the East IMHO, and yes it is massive.
Also I would point out although we've yet to go away to the West, we have a 4-0 record against all West teams so far, including Denver and Lakers.

Don't you think though Clem, that this is a preview of the East Finals ?
I am honestly starting to believe that not only are Boston the class of the East, but we are damn well the best team in the NBA ..

But obviously titles are won in June, not december ...
I think Detroit is going to be a good test to see if we can mix it with the best(I rate the pistons as one of the top 4 teams in the NBA, along with the Spurs, Celtics and Suns)

 

[mdc]

No difference to the dude who wrote about the Spurs V Lakers preview ..

...except that he wrote it on the day of the game. No problem if you did that.

Come on, how many times in the PAST have I had the oppotunity (and I've followed Boston since 1992) to see the Celtics be a legit contender ...
I think this is a valid thread, featuring the two best teams in the East ...
I go a bit OTT at times, but for god's sake, it's been pretty hard as a Celtics fan the last few years, esp last year, with everything that happened, and losing the lottery and the deaths of Red Auerbach and DJ ..
For the first time as an NBA Fan, I am very confident going into each game expecting a Celtics victory

It's the NBA. All teams are going to suck from time to time. Many teams have sucked much worse than Boston. We know you're enjoying the success, you don't have to keep reminding us

It is a very rare time to follow a team that is 20-2 ..
ESPN have projected Boston to be 75 -7 LOL, but I wouldn't go that far

That's just the record of 20-2 extrapolated over 82 games. It's not actually a "projection" made by any person. Same as a team that's 12-12 right now is projected to finish 41-41.

Anyhow it is a massive game IMHO and worthy of discussion. I have a lot of time and respect for the Pistons, the only team that could probably challenge the Celtics in the East IMHO, and yes it is massive.

It's not nearly as big a game as the Spurs-Suns today, for example, which is an actual rivalry. Plus Pistons don't really give a hoot about the regular season (you know, coz it doesn't count for anything ).

I have a lot of time and respect for the Pistons, the only team that could probably challenge the Celtics in the East IMHO, and yes it is massive.
Also I would point out although we've yet to go away to the West, we have a 4-0 record against all West teams so far, including Denver and Lakers.

Chicago will pose a threat once they kick into gear. Cleveland is always hard because of the love Lebron gets from the refs, plus they have good bigs. It's just too early to tell. Denver is a rubbish team, and the Lakers have only kicked into gear recently, so those aren't great wins.

Don't you think though Clem, that this is a preview of the East Finals ?
I am honestly starting to believe that not only are Boston the class of the East, but we are damn well the best team in the NBA ..

But obviously titles are won in June, not december ...
I think Detroit is going to be a good test to see if we can mix it with the best(I rate the pistons as one of the top 4 teams in the NBA, along with the Spurs, Celtics and Suns)

Far too early to tell. Boston is certainly the favourite to come out of the east atm, but things change.
I maintain there's no chance Boston beats the Spurs (it's a nightmare matchup), but they have every chance to beat anyone else if they maintain their form.

 

[AndSmithMustScore]

Keep a lid on it.

 

[jerry springer]

Celtic's easily

 

[triplejdude]

Is the game gonna be on TV?
I sure hope so!!
Maybe the monkeys at Foxtel can get their act together and show more than 3 or 4 games per week

 

[Rick18]

Is the game gonna be on TV?
I sure hope so!!
Maybe the monkeys at Foxtel can get their act together and show more than 3 or 4 Lakers games per week

Edited for accuracy

 

[johnnyhoward]

Edited for accuracy

Haha very true. No wonder there are so many Lakers fans in Aus though - Kobe is probably the most recognisable player in the NBA.

At home, the Celtics won't drop this.

 

[celtic_pride]

Hmm just on the Spurs ..

I would agree perhaps they would be very hard to beat ..
But they have yet to make two consecutive finals appreances, and have yet to go back to back, so that is a good omen ...

But yeah I probably should have went a bet premature with this thread LOL, but honestly think it would garner much interest.

Clem, u are right about the Cavs, although I maintain LBJ needs more support, although he was insane in last year's playoffs .
BTW I think the Bulls are GORNE ... too many games back to try and get decent home court advantage or even make the playoffs.
In a few years time though, the Raptors will be a serious and legit threat in the East, I like the team they are building for the now and future, funny how things have picked up for them since Zeke Left LOL

 

[Karl Pilkington]

I'm a Boston fan but Detroit are the perfect team to take us out.

KG in the low post will be matching up on Sheed, who is in the top 3 low post defenders in the comp along with KG and Duncan. If lazy Sheed shows up instead though, well it could be KG's night. Mind you, who was the last quality defender KG played against?

Prince can nullify Pierce quite well. He's also one of the most underrated players in the league imo.

A 90% fit Allen against Rip is a dead heat if not a win for the Pistons.

Billups the difference.

 

[peternorth]

I'm a Boston fan but Detroit are the perfect team to take us out.

.

good prediction. then again, it might be whats called "softening the blow". i do it all the time with the tiges

ripping game!

 

[absolutezero]

Crap, put $80 bucks on the Celtics

 

[Borgsta]

good prediction. then again, it might be whats called "softening the blow". i do it all the time with the tiges

ripping game!

haha you've been doing that for about 20 years now....

 

[peternorth]

haha you've been doing that for about 20 years now....

ahem, 27, get it right

 

[Karl Pilkington]

Happy with the prediction, the result could use some work though.

Really there was nothing in that game - showed we can hang with the best in the league, that's what counts.

 

[mdc]

Amazingly, c_p is nowhere to be seen.

 

[Renegade]

Love watching Boston start like they have. Going to make their playoff failure so much more amusing.
Pity they threw away their future for immediate failure.

 

[johnnyhoward]

What a game. The Pistons are a quality unit, the fight they showed was amazing.

 

[Moose_40]

Yeah the Pistons were the better team in the second half they kept the Celtics to just 33 points and you don't see that very often with a team thats got KG, Allen and Pierce.

 

[peternorth]

thing about the Pistons is when i look at their team i cant see any players that scare me. collectively theyre good but

 

[celtic_pride]

Damn it,
but well played Pistons, but damn it IMHO Boston blew it big time, but I guess it's always better to find out that u can't make so many turnovers and critical errors come playoff time, esp against the Pistons ...