Kevin Garnett could not be stopped by Rasheed Wallace, even with Rip Hamilton’s help

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Ok, ok, we expected Kevin Garnett to play much more aggressive in game 5. You know, we discussed that in our last writing, but where in the heck did Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins come from?

Boston Celtics 106, Detroit Pistons 102

Kevin Garnett

The Big Ticket came to play.

“We knew the significance of this game,” said Garnett, whose 33 points were his most in the playoffs this year. “You don’t win this game, you put basically yourself in a corner. … They’re experienced, and they’ve been in a lot of pressure situations. Now it’s up to us to go up there and try to get one.”

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Kendrick Perkins comes alive

Kendrick Perkins killed the Pistons.

Pistons trail 52-46 at halftime. They had the lead for much of that half, but the Celtics closed the half on a 16-4 run The Pistons only basket in that run was a three from Wallace, and he’s leading the team with 12 points. But being beat on the boards 28-11 and allowing the Celtics to shoot 51.3% is not going to get it done. I mean, 28-11? That’s just mind-boggling. The Pistons need more from just about everyone. And again, less from Kendrick Perkins.
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Ray Allen finds his shot

Ray was once again nailing shots from the outside.

Ray Allen scored 29, hitting a long 2-pointer with a minute left after Detroit came within one point, then he and Kevin Garnett each made a pair of free throws down the stretch as the Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 106-102 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.

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Allen added consecutive 3-pointers midway through the third to turn an eight-point game to a 14-point lead.

Rodney Stuckey is no longer a rookie

Rodney came to play.

Saunders kept Stuckey in the game when McDyess went out, a small line-up with Prince at the four. And Stuckey just drew a foul and knocked down two free throws to make it a three-point game. Can we even call him a rookie at this point?

• To answer my previous question… I’d say no, we can’t. He just hit a three, which isn’t even a great shot for him. And the Pistons trail by one point with 1:17 left. All the pressure is on the Celtics now. They’ve blown a huge lead, they’re in their own building, and they know they’re supposed to win this game. I honestly did not see this coming.
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The return of Chauncey Billups

Chauncey is looking more and more like the leader that the Pistons need to win this series.

Billups (26 points) was banged up and bruised, but he continued to look more like himself. After Hamilton’s scoring barrage, Billups scored nine straight fourth-quarter points — a triple, a lay-up and four free throws — that cut Boston’s lead to 98-94.
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Game 6 is Friday at the Palace.

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Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett – will this matchup determine the series?

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The Boston Celtics present certain matchup problems for the Pistons that other teams do not.

Detroit Pistons

Before discussing the Detroit matchup problems, we should discuss the opposite problem for Boston and all other NBA basketball teams. The Pistons put four guys on the court that always present a matchup problem for your favorite team. Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, or Rasheed Wallace will be matched up with someone they can consistently beat or if you try to double anyone, Antonio McDyess will drill a set shot from 15 feet.

Boston Celtics

Rajon Rondo will not impress Chauncey Billups. Chauncey will chew on him most of the time, eating him alive. Chauncey is just too strong. It is like when Karl Malone used to play for Utah, he is just one size larger than you are. Rajon will get his points and bring energy, but Chauncey will win this matchup. The wild card here is Chauncey’s hamstring. Can it take a beating?

Rip Hamilton and Ray Allen should have a battle royal. Both of them live on jump shots from mid range and further with Rip usually closer to the basket and both are from UConn. Ray Allen has been cold during the playoffs, but Rip will have him fired up to play.

Tayshaun Prince will be matched up with Paul Pierce and Paul has been winning this matchup in the past by not only scoring, but shutting down Tayshaun. The difference here is that Tayshaun does not always see himself as a scorer or needing to score. Prince has been hot during the playoffs, but expect the points to come a little harder during this matchup.

Rasheed Wallace will not always be matched up with Kevin Garnett. The Pistons do not like Rasheed to get into foul trouble. McDyess will often cover Garnett with Jason Maxiell sometimes helping out as well. Kevin Garnett has the ability to step out and hit the 15 to 17 foot jumper and if you go out on him, he will take you to the hole. Garnett can also post up as well. He cannot post Rasheed Wallace. Wallace is too strong, but you do not want Wallace running out on Garnett to stop his jump shot.

This matchup of Garnett and Detroit will determine the series.

Wallace loves playing against the best, so he should be keyed in against Garnett, who averaged 24 points per game against the Pistons in the regular season. They’re similar players: emotional, defensively sound and able to score from inside and out. Wallace has taken more than a third of his shots from three-point range in the playoffs. Garnett is especially adept at hitting midrange jumpers. His knock is being too unselfish, especially late in games.

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Keep in mind, Garnett cannot stop Wallace down low, but how motivated to stay down low will Rasheed be in this series. That is always a question.

To stop Garnett the Pistons do have one secret weapon and it is not Amir Johnson. Kevin Garnett schooled Amir early in the season and Amir may not see much time in this series. No, the Pistons will call on aging veteran Theo Ratliff. Theo has the length and the smarts to give Kevin some problems.

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The Detroit Pistons did not just beat the Philadelphia 76ers; they put a beat down on them.

Detroit 105 Philadelphia 88

Rasheed felt the urgency and led the team to a blowout victory.

Rasheed Wallace had the team ready for game two and scored 16 points

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The talk is of the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Pistons. One game they are deadly and the next game they are tame. Questions abound. How can this be? They have such a veteran club, shouldn’t there be more consistency? Don’t the Pistons understand the urgency of winning in these games to preserve tired old legs?

Hey, you with all the questions, what is your problem? The Pistons almost seem to need their backs to the wall, so get over it.

“To be a championship team you have to be able to play as the favorite,” coach Flip Saunders said. “It’s easy to play as the underdog or with your backs up against the wall. It’s more difficult to do it the other way.”

Or in Chauncey Billups parlance: “If it ain’t rough, it ain’t right.”

None of the Pistons can explain why they like to make it rough. None have a solution. And for all the good coach-speak about how they want to avoid it, none of them sound all that convincing, probably because it keeps happening.

“It’s been like that ever since I got here,” said Antonio McDyess, who arrived in 2005. “We like it when our backs are against the wall.”

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Pistons have issues

The Pistons are a perimeter oriented team led by a complex man named Rasheed Wallace and a star player called Mr. Big Shot (Chauncey Billups). For this team to win, they have to play intense defense. It was their style under Rick Carlisle. It was their style under Larry Brown. It is still their style with Flip Saunders and remember Flip was brought in for his offensive coaching tactics. Turns out Flip is a pretty good defensive coach as well.

Rasheed can shut certain players down in the post and even though they no longer have Big Ben Wallace, the young guys Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson, as well as veteran Theo Ratliff, provides more coverage in the post. Meanwhile guard Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince have both been on 1st or 2nd team NBA all defensive teams. Even the shooter, Rip Hamilton, had to learn to be a tough defensive player to stay on the floor in Detroit.

Defense is work and not fun work. You have to be motivated. Philly has certainly motivated the Pistons.

Now Philadelphia won’t go away in this series, because Detroit is so perimeter oriented on offense they tend to go cold now and then. That is when they have to rely on their defense to win.

Detroit seems to be waiting to play the Boston Celtics in the Conference finals of the NBA Playoffs. The Pistons are good enough to beat any team in the West, but may not be able to beat the Celtics to get to the NBA Finals. That series with Boston seems to occupy their thoughts. Philly caught them daydreaming in game one and stole one.

NFL Basketball special comment Detroit will have a hard time keeping their focus until the Boston series. It may cost them a lot of energy along the way, energy they need for that series.

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The Pistons did not trade for Pau Gasol, although that would have been nice.
The Pistons did not trade for Jason Kidd. No knock on Kidd, but Chauncey is here and much younger.
The Pistons did not trade for Shaq, although for 1 year that would have been fun.
The Pistons did not trade for Chris Weber. He did talk to Joe Dumars, but there was no roster spot for him.
The Pistons did not trade for Kyle Korver and Kyle fits better with Utah than Detroit.
The Pistons did not trade for … well you get the picture.

Later though, the Pistons signed Theo Ratliff.

The biggest weakness for the Pistons was low post defense. You did not want to waste Rasheed fouling out under the basket all alone. Amir Johnson is not quite ready for prime time minutes and Jason Maxiell does not match up with centers. This is where Theo comes in.

Theo Ratliff, early in his career, does a Vulcan Mind Meld with Doug Collins

But the beauty of that signing shined through the Pistons’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

The Pistons used Ratliff to guard Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored 20 points when the teams played earlier this month. Not this time — with Ratliff fronting him and pushing him out of his spots, Ilgauskas shot 5-for-16 from the floor and scored 11 points.

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It is not a perfect deal, because Theo is recovering from a knee injury, is getting up in years, and does not always contribute a lot of offense.

The Piston Way

The important thing for the Pistons is defense. The Pistons thrive on being tough and playing tough defense. They are modeled in many ways like general manger Joe Dumars.

Playing tough defense is hard to do when the opposing team’s center has free reign. Ben Wallace used to stop that sort of thing, but he left for the green, maybe not the pastures.

Theo will be even more important in the playoffs.

“We’re not trying to wear him out too much,” coach Flip Saunders said. “We’re trying to keep him for games where we think we need some big people. And of course, everyone knows how professional he is. He’s always ready when called upon.”

In the playoffs, he could be called upon to check guys like Boston’s Kevin Garnett, Orlando’s Dwight Howard or Ilgauskas, and that’s when the payoff for acquiring him will really come. He represents the Pistons’ most physical, veteran big-man option off the bench — an important cog on most championship-caliber teams.

Yeah, Theo will become the giant slayer, just making the Pistons that little bit better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Did you even notice this deal?

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