Game Two Notes: Second Half

54-54, 8:34 3rd qtr: Didn’t take long to tie this one up. Ray hit a jumper and the C’s really came out fired up. Rondo is really wreaking havoc on the defensive side, might not be doing much offensively but a bunch of steals (ok 2) and deflections.

68-64 Pistons, 2:47 3rd qtr.: Celtics 15-4 run immediately refuted by a 12-2 Pistons run…Rondo picked up a dumb technical so the teams are now even at a point apiece given away by T’s…The Celts are using far less time on the shot clock on each possession which can work to speed up the pace but can kill you if you give up a quick run - we’ve seen both this quarter. Allen made a few more shots but he still hasn’t knocked down a 3 and now has 5 fouls…

78-69 Pistons, End of 3rd qtr: Free throws are just killing the C’s now, Rondo with a face guard, then Garnett off the ball foul, Pierce with a turnover that leads to a foul all in the last 3 minutes of the quarter…it’s now Pistons up 25-22 in points off free throws…not a huge margin but to have the road team with more points from the line is usually not the case in a matchup like this…BIG 3 by Rasheed to end the third quarter to bring the lead back to nine, slowly building it back up after the Celtics had taken the lead…

86-79 Pistons, 6.55 4th qtr: Ray Allen just slammed the ball home to finish an impressive drive but here’s an unhappy rant. Too many times the Celtics are standing around - ESPECIALLY on the fast break situations. Where is everybody? I might have a partial reason: for the most part Detroit has had the ball longer in their possessions than the Celtics so Boston’s playing a whole lot of defense. In the playoffs especially, defense is where you should be expending most of your energy so when the Celtics come down and shoot in 5 seconds thats 20 seconds less that Detroit has to bear down on D. I think it’s working in the Pistons camp - combine that with Rodney Stuckey going crazy and you got the Pistons close to finishing it off with a run.

10:57 PM: Look who has the same birthday as me…none other than tonight’s announcer Mike Breen. Happy Birthday fellow man of the microphone.

86-81 Pistons, 5:55 to go: Hey hey PJ Brown knocking down a couple of jumpers - there we go. Interesting to see how much Doc sticks with him the rest of the way. I think Perk’s played a good game but how long do you ride the hot hand?

92-88 Pistons, 3:55 to go: Game is getting chaotic but matching bucket for bucket. Allen hit his first three in forever and followed it up with a 10 foot leaner. That’s big down the stretch…

 96-90 Pistons, 2:19 to go: The Celtics cannot guard the pick and roll and pass. The pick and pop with a third guy (usually a big guy) getting open for a 16 footer on the baseline. It’s working every time and McDyess and Rasheed have hit several big shots in the fourth quarter. Doc thinks Ray got fouled on the C’s last possession but he was trying to throw up a poor three point shot. C’s need several good defensive possessions now.

96-92 Pistons, 1:12 to go: Pistons took 45 seconds off the clock thanks to an offensive board by Rip Hamilton (ugh). Ray missed a eight foot leaner from the baseline, need defense now.

98-92 Pistons, 48 seconds to go: The C’s had Hamilton 35 feet away with 3 on the shotclock! But KG got beat and no one helped until Rip had a look and hits a huge bucket. It’s trouble time now and C’s will likely go into foul mode soon.

98-94 Pistons, 41 seconds to go: Pierce layup, no fouls.

98-94 Pistons, 20 seconds to go: timeout detroit, 3 seconds left on shot clock. I don’t know about that move not to foul. If Detroit misses the Celtics are going to need at least two scores in 20 seconds and have two timeouts. If they get a three it’ll make it a lot easier but most importantly they can’t allow the pistons to score and they just did…100-94. Now I definitely think they should’ve fouled….wide open layup off the in bounds will likely do it.

100-97 Pistons, 10 seconds left: Allen hits a tough 3 to keep the C’s alive, but it’s still amazing comeback time if it happens. They get Detroit to use its last timeout to avoid a 5 second violation. Nice.

101-97 Pistons, 9.8 left: Foul on the inbounds and Rasheed hits one. I think they should really look for a three - that’s the right choice and Celtics haven’t looked good in these playoff situations. If they make a two and detroit hits a two, celtics have no time to win this game or even tie.

103-97 Pistons, Final: Garnett misses the three and the Celtics were looking for it which is good but KG isn’t the guy to shoot it.

The key as it usually is was the defense today. The rebounding was there, C’s had a few more turnovers, free throws were fairly even. Detroit just had a ton of wide open looks while the Celtics passing took a big turn downwards compared to game one. Now the C’s need a win on the road to do it - strangely I’m confident they can do it (although I was uberconfident at Atlanta and look what happened). Two days to adjust…