Celtics Pistons Predictions & Preview
Written May 19, 2008 by Jack Jones
The Eastern Conference Finals are set with the #2 seeded Detroit Pistons take on the #1 seeded Boston Celtics, in what should be a classic matchup for the right to go on to the NBA Finals. With the first game set to get underway on Tuesday the Pistons will have had a week off since they finished up their series with the Orlando Magic. On the other hand the Celtics had another series pushed to the wire as they were unable to win on the road again and needed a big game 7 from Paul Pierce to get rid of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is the series we saw coming from the get go and it should be a lot of fun to watch. Here is a quick look at each team and our prediction on who will be moving one step closer to a chance at history.
#1 Boston Celtics
It has been a mystery to almost everyone why these Celtics can’t win on the road in the playoffs. For a team that finished with not only the best regular season record, they were also the leagues best on the road. That has all changed as they are now 0-6 on the road and 8-0 at home in the playoffs. While Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have been pretty solid so far, Ray Allen can’t buy a bucket and is barely scoring over 12 points a game. While defense is this team’s biggest strength they are going up against a Pistons team that plays some pretty good defense as well. All three all-stars will have to be on their game or this will be a sad ending to a great season.
#2 Detroit Pistons
The Pistons needed only 5 games to get rid of the Magic, and did it for the most part without Chauncey Billups who had to sit out the last two games with a hamstring injury. Thanks to the Celtics and Cavs long series he has been able to rehab his hamstring and should be ready to go in the first game of the series. The Pistons have mainly that same group of veterans that seem to be in the conference finals year after year. Richard Hamilton has been the big scorer so far coming in at 21.5 ppg, and will need him to continue his good play against the Celtics. One player to keep your eyes on is Rodney Stuckey who played pretty well coming in for Billups, and could be asked to play a big role in this series if Billups is unable to come back and perform.
Winner: Detroit Pistons
We picked these same to teams to do battle from the start of the playoffs with our NBA predictions, and we had Detroit winning then, and we still have them winning this series now. We really feel like Detroit can win on the road and that will force Boston to do something they haven’t done yet in this year’s playoffs; win on the road. The other reason is experience, while Boston has a group of great veteran players, not many players on that team have been in the Conference Finals. One last thing is no team that has gone back-to-back 7 game series in the first two rounds of the playoffs, have gone on to win in the Conference Finals.
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