I'm not up to speed on the whole live-blogging thing yet (someday I'll give it a shot) but I thought I'd try a little slow-motion, quarter by quarter in-game reaction.  Enjoy.

1st Quarter:

Celtics were hot early and the Pistons were not.  Some of those shots the Pistons put up were just way, way off.  For all the talk of their experience, I think they came out a little bit tight.

Speaking of tight, the refs are calling everything (including phantom calls).  Did Ray Allen really deserve a tech for grazing the neck of Rip Hamilton?

Nice to have a 10 point lead, but this is the Pistons, so I'm not content yet.

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2nd Quarter: 

Predictably, the Pistons got right back in it.  Thankfully KG was ready to answer.  He just abused Wallace and Amir had something between fear and confusion in his eyes.  20 first half points for the Ticket.

Perkins, Rondo, and Big Baby all making solid contributions out there but so far Ray Allen has been quiet.  Pierce was effiecient with 10 points on just 5 shots.

I didn't even realize that Perk had 8 rebounds already!  Not to mention a nice block in the last minute or so.

3rd Quarter:

Ray Allen is scoreless so far (at the 9 min mark).  I only point this out in hopes of jinxing a scoreless game - like the reverse of not mentioning a no hitter.

The lead has been hovering around 10 for most of the game, but it feels much closer than that.

Forgot to mention this earlier, but someone on the broadcast mentioned that Pollard's ankle is getting worse and it wouldn't be too much of a shock if we had seen the last of him on the court this year (and probably ever).  What will Celtics Now do without Planet Pollard?

Wow.  Rondo just blew by Rip and dunked on Maxiel.  Play of the game so far.

And Ray Allen just hit his first shot at roughly the 4:40 mark.  P.S. Ray also has 7 rebounds and 5 assists, so he's finding ways to help.  Who says he's just a shooter?

As pointed out by Tommy, Billups has taken more foul shots (15) than the entire Celtics team.  Yikes.

Just as we feared, the Pistons are right back in it with a late run to cut the lead to 2 at the break. 

4th Quarter: 

I'm happy that Perkins has a ton of rebounds (18 at the 3 min mark), but what is with him fighting Celtics for rebounds (we heard from PJ Brown that he was upset about that in prior games too)?  Does it matter how many boards you get big guy?  It isn't a contract year, relax.  On the other hand, he's probably just going for the ball and isn't paying attention to the jerseys.

Great steal by Rondo and quick pass up the court to Pierce for the assist.

A 12 - 0 run was just emphatically puntuated by a nice KG dish to Perk for the slam.  Also Rondo had a nice Pierce-like create-contact-and-one-jumper. 

It's official folks!  This one's in the books and we've just clinched a playoff birth!  You read that right.  

Update: Pollard done for the season.

Final numbers.  20 rebounds for Perkins.  31 points for KG.  5 assists each for Pierce, Allen, and Rondo.

Great win.  A lot of fun to watch.  Thanks for reading.