CELTICS WRITE ANOTHER PAGE OF HISTORY
(Image taken from NBA.com)
Well, the 2008 NBA Conference Finals have involved four teams with a lot of history. In the West the Lakers faced the Spurs. The fact that the Spurs are the defending champions did not help them, the resurgent Lakers won the series 4-1. In the East though it's a battle baetween the Celtics and the Pistons. The Pistons have the recent playoffs experience but the Celtics certainly have both the class and home court advantage. Games 1 and 2 were in Boston and they were split. Same with Games 3 and 4 in Detroit. The series returned to Boston for Game 5 which the Celtics won and so it was now back to Detroit for Game 6 with the Pistons having to do the "not in our house" thing.
The Pistons opened the scoring but the Celtics soon overhauled that score only for the Pistons to come back and after a duel for the lead after which the Pistons led 10-7. The Celtics weren't done yet though, overhauled the Pistons again before the midpoint of the quarter and though credit to the Pistons for staying in the game after that, the Celtics kept the edge and from there on in were always one step ahead of their hosts, the Pistons certainly looked to have their work cut out at the first buzzer already. Ray Allen led the Celtics with 10 points and the Pistons coach needed to do some talking. Celtics led 24-21 at the end of one, now they had to keep that lead!
Early in the second quarter the Celts looked to extend their lead and they did so succsessfully despite there being few actual buckets early on, the Celtics turned out to be a better three point shooting side. The Pistons are just better at curing insomnia though, say hello to a drought of over two minutes mid-quarter followed by a further drought of over a minute. It wasn't quite good enough though, the Celtics were soon back in action and the best the Pistons were able to do in this quarter was cut the deficit to one on a few occasions. At half time Allen led the Celtics with 13 points, backed up by Paul Pierce on 9 points. Celtics led 40-37 at the half.
The Pistons were still in the game though. Still, the Celtics very much were continuing their first half form early in the third and though the Pistons were still coming close, the Celtics soon rebuluilt a solid lead that allowed them to lead 54-48 at one point. Then the Pistons replied with an 8-0 run and their first lead since the early stages of the third! Suddenly the game was turned, as the NBA TV commentators said "on it's head" and though the Celts kept fighting, the Pistons used their show-killing tactics to admittedly good effect to build up a solid lead of their own and all of a sudden it looked like the Celtics were in for another seven-gamer! Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 24 points. Pistons led 68-60 with a quarter to go.
As the Pistons now had control of the game, the fourth quarter opened with a drought of over a minute and a half. It ended with the home side extending their lead to 70 60. Now it was the Celtics turn and they replied with a 10-0 run to tie the game before mid-quarter! The Pistons looked to have the early edge in the resulting wrestle for the lead but the Celts went ahead with a free throw and it was then their show, nothing the Pistons could do about it! The only question was, could the Celtics win by double figures? Well that didn't happen but still, Pierce led the Celtics with 27 points, backed up by Allen on 17, backed up by a relatively weak Kevin Garnett on 11. Celtics won the game 89-81 and the series 4-2. They face the Lakers in the Finals!