Bad News - Good News

by Jeff Clark on May 23, 2008 7:20 AM EDT in Boston Celtics Articles

Because there's always a silver lining...

Bad News - The Celtics lost.
Good News - The series is still 1-1

Bad News - The Pistons have been to the ECF for each of the last 6 years.
Good News - Their combined record for those games is just 13 - 18.

Bad News - The Pistons shot 49.3% from the field.
Good News - Hey, our defense can't play any worse than that, right?

Bad News - Our bench didn't give us much of anything last night (8 points).
Good News - Other than Rodney Stucky, their bench was pretty quiet too.

Bad News - Rumors of Chauncey Billups demise were greatly exaggerated.
Good News - Ray Allen is BACK!

Bad News - You can tell Rasheed Wallace is starting to get on track.
Good News - Kevin Garnett has been on track from the start.

Bad News - The Celtics road record is the storyline that refuses to go away.
Good News - The Celtics can do something about that on Saturday.

Bottom Line Bad News - The Pistons are who we thought they were. They never panic and they wait for you to make a mistake and then they pounce on you. The Celtics dug this road record hole themselves and now they have to face the questions about how they intend to win this series if they can't win on the road and just lost home court advantage. The defense looked tired and slow and it isn't like there's a lot of time to rest before Saturday's game 3.

Bottom Line Good News - This is about as good as the Pistons can play and the Celtics were still right there. A typical good game from Detroit has them spreading the scoring around to several different players, playing smothering defense, and showing poise under pressure to win the game. All those things happened last night, but the Celtics still had their opportunities to win the game - they just couldn't sieze them. At the end of the day, I still believe that the Celtics are the more talented, more driven team and in a seven game series the better team typically wins out. And if we have Ray Allen back to normal, I like our chances a lot.

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I’m actually not that worried. Ray’s back. If he hadn’t been in foul trouble early, he would have broken out even earlier and I think we would have won the game. If he keeps grabbin 25, I could see us winning the next few and taking this in 5-6. If they get ONE road win, they can get two.

by MoneyBagsBob on May 23, 2008 7:53 AM EDT reply actions

I’ll continue to say it – CELTS in 5!

and Cassell better play from here on out – Homeless Posey and TAllen(!?!) combined for THREE points last night

by BrickJames on May 23, 2008 8:47 AM EDT reply actions

I’m feel unworried as well….The Celtics will be ok.
Let’s put it in perspective….there is alot of basketball left to be played.
the Pistons now need to win at home….if they do I’ll be worried….

by tommyfan on May 23, 2008 8:50 AM EDT reply actions

It’s a new series.
Best of 5.
3 in Detroit.
2 in Boston.

Protect home court and win 1/3 in Detroit and sitting pretty.
The road woes cannot continue…they’ve beaten Detroit in Detroit before.

Sat, Jan 5 @ Detroit
W 92-85 to improve their record to 29-3
G. Davis 20 points.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=280105008

Duplicate that game on Saturday and we’re all good, well…except for Pollard’s 2 points.

by mcpu40 on May 23, 2008 8:51 AM EDT reply actions

one more:

Bad News – Rip Hamilton was not suspended for throwing an elbow.
Good News – Sheed is just 2 techs away from getting suspended a game.

[url=http://www.detroitbadboys.com/archives/2008-05-23/no-suspension-for-rip-but-cross-your-fingers-for-rasheed/]See Detroit Bad Boys[/url]

by Jeff Clark on May 23, 2008 8:51 AM EDT reply actions

Bad News – Doc blows the Series

Good News – Danny fires Doc

by Ancient Red on May 23, 2008 9:18 AM EDT reply actions

I agree with you that Detroit cannot play better. They hit everything and their defense was good. Referee #33 was terrible. I thought the first half would never end.

On our end Ray came alive as we all could see. He hit that last 3 right in front of me and he was covered and changed the arc ie a shooter’s shot. So great to see. James Posey seemed a step slow on his usual good D and our bench in general got nothing done. I’m an Eddie man but Sam should make an appearance if the bench gets nothing done.

I liked seeing Tony on Hamilton. Tony is a head case who needs to get called a couple times to settle in. I would call his number again on Hamilton for 5-6 mins and get his head in the game. We need tough D on that guy as he is phenomenal opponent

If Pierce and KG stay in the zone they are in we will win. Pierce must be exhausted

I don’t remember losing a meaningful game like this and feeling less worried. Rondo was terrific, Perk avoided the dumb fouls and Def 3 secs penalties

by Wildblu1 on May 23, 2008 9:26 AM EDT reply actions

Posey and TAllen have definitely struggled against Detroit. Perhaps the first four off the bench in Game 3 should be House, Powe, Cassell, Brown.

Pierce has got to be getting fatigued.

by IdahoGreen on May 23, 2008 10:00 AM EDT reply actions

i would like to see more of posey. i am glad you can see the silver lining.game 3 is the test—keep composure-play d, move feet- good luck.

by nazzbo on May 23, 2008 10:35 AM EDT reply actions

one more good news— rondo is hitting his free throws.

by nazzbo on May 23, 2008 10:45 AM EDT reply actions

bad news: PJ is eating up a bunch of minutes that Perk should be getting. 2 rebounds in 19 mins nice job old man.

by cmoney on May 23, 2008 12:53 PM EDT reply actions

Good to see Ray back. I didn’t think Rondo played that well, maybe I’m wrong. I wish he would instinctively shoot the ball sometimes, no hesitation. Is it me or is Posey not playing well either?

by celty86 on May 23, 2008 12:54 PM EDT reply actions

Just wondering why everyone says Ray is back? Does it really mean your back if you played good for 20 minutes in 2 weeks? And in that time he had 5 fouls cause he is a liability on D? If that is good news, then the Pistons have NOTHING to worry about.

by Junior on May 23, 2008 1:17 PM EDT reply actions

We will get a split in Detroit. There is no way they beat us 3 times in a row. I see us coming back for game 5 tied up.

by D Dub on May 23, 2008 5:11 PM EDT reply actions

Ray played better D (before the fouls) than TA did when he had to sit down. I think the fouls hurt the way he played D and his D was not as good because he didn’t want to foul out. Enabling Rip Hamilton to have his way. And 2 of those foul calls on him were preposterous, in particular the one where Hamilton knocked him into Lindsey Hunter.

Here’s some good news: Pistons are often less motivated at home then they are on the road (ask Philly)

by Hillcrestwildcat on May 23, 2008 7:14 PM EDT reply actions