Eastern Conference Final Preview - (1) Boston Celtics vs (2) Detroit Pistons
If
we asked before the playoffs, which teams would make it to the Eastern
Conference Final, about 90% of the inquire people would say Boston and
Detroit. And the other 10% were probably fans of Orlando and Cleveland.
These two teams were clearly the best two teams of the East during the
regular season and their superiority over the other teams of the East
was so big, that this final can be everything but a surprise. But the
surprise was how Boston reached this conference final. Nobody was
expecting them to win both previous series by 4-3, while going 0-6 on
the road. Detroit after a terrible start of the playoffs, found
themselves again and only dropped three games in the post season until
now. That's half of the games Boston dropped to reach this stage of the
playoffs. Also Detroit had a whole week to rest, while Boston played
the Game 7 of the series against the Cavs two days ago. Detroit had
time to rest and recover their injured players, while Boston had to
fight a lot to reach this conference final. So the main question in
here is: Can Detroit take advantage of the tiredness of Boston?
First of all, Detroit hasn't been exactly the best team in
conference finals lately. Actually they are 1-11 (!) ATS in the
Conference Final over the last three years. Obviously that doesn't
change the fact that they are together with San Antonio, the most
experienced team in this type of games and that they have one of the
strongest rosters in the league. Also their fighting spirit is huge and
they are capable of recovering from very tough situations, like the
Game 4 at Orlando in the conference semi finals. But still Boston is an
extremely tough opponent, tired or not, and Detroit will need to play
at their best level to reach the NBA final once again. Billups and
McDyess are now fully recovered and if it's true that they will be
fresh for tonight's game, it's also true that they haven't played a
single game in seven days! So, will they be more rested or more rusty?
For Boston it's the opposite. They will be tired, but they haven't
stopped playing, so their level of competitiveness is at their highest
possible. It's not easy to win to final two Games 7 in a row and they
have done it. Also it's true that they have home court advantage in
this series and that they are 8-0 at home in the post season. They have
been terrible in the road, but if they don't lose a single game at
home, they will win the title! Obviously it's not good to go 0-6 on the
road, during the playoffs, but Boston is stepping it up when it's
necessary and they have already showed that they can handle the
pressure and that they want to get the title really bad. Also Boston
continues to be the best defense of the league, only allowing their
opponents to score 86 ppg in this post season. Also in the regular
season, they have create a lot of problems in the paint to Detroit,
obligating Detroit to shoot far from the basket. The Pistons have
attempted 20, 21 and 16 3pts shots in their games against in the
regular season, something not very normal in Detroit, especially in
these games where they don't shoot much more than 70 FG attempts per
game.
So, my prediction is that we are leaning towards another very long
series and this one is really too close to call. Boston is tired, but
true superstars like Garnett or Pierce can find energies that they
weren't supposed to have. Yes, Detroit is more experienced and they are
rested. But Boston still has the home court advantage and while they
have it in the series, they have to be considered the favorites to get
to the NBA finals. But if Detroit is capable of doing what nobody has
managed to do in this post season (win a game at Boston - and they are
probably the team in the league more capable right now to do it), then
the story of this series may be different.