Detroit Fans Are Confident

well Detroit fan can be confident but l don’t think is coming back
reason l believe this game really hit hard the piston the know in back of the heads the celtics can win in detroit so all the celtics need to do is put the pedal to metal and please stop the sloppy play at the end of games 8)

Our guards worry me. Billups and Hamilton had 51 points between them and if your throw Stuckey with 13 points that’s a combined 64 points allowed from their guards.

We need to pressure their guards more and Rondo had “Stage Fright” dribbling the ball up and passing it in the 4th quarter.

That scares the ……. out of me when I look back at what Cassell was suppose to bring and we are allowing Rondo to sink or swim.

Either put Cassell in there and take your chances or I’d say have Pierce and Allen together in the back court and allow one of them bringing the ball up with the game on the line.

I don’t really understand all the negativity about the Celtics win last night. Did they play great in the 4th quarter? No, but they won based on the fact that they thoroughly whipped Detroit in the 3rd quarter.

Everyone who’s watched a lot of NBA knows it’s a game of runs. The Celtics made the decisive run in the 3rd. As well as Detroit played in the 4th, it was not enough to match the lead the Celtics established in the 3rd. Rather than talking about the Celtics “near-collapse” in the 4th, they should be talking about the Pisons actual collapse in the 3rd. They dug themselves a hole that even when they played their best they couldn’t dig out of. Credit the C’s.

This is the playoffs. Wins are tough. Every win should be celebrated, not picked apart. And, despite what Detroit fans think, there is no moral victory for them in last night’s game – only a notch in the L column.

The Rev is correct about one thing, it’s a win for us. We weren’t happy about having to go 7 with the hawks but we did. Cleveland was a tough series. They’re all going to be tough. I’m past that now. As far as Cassell, how can you want him in there when he can’t even get the ball over half court against ball pressure anymore? He looked worse than Eddie last night at that. It’s going to be a rocky ride due to the components of the team. Ask Lemon.

I think wins should be celebrated, but I think the team itself really needs to pick apart every single game and learn from it and adjust.

The thing that gets me is a Piston’s blog taking a shot at Doc. I’ve been as critical of Doc as anyone, but Flip Saunders isn’t exactly playing chess over on the other bench. His rotations have been just as inconsistent, and questionable as Docs, and Detroit has been more up and down than the Celtics.

Gun to my head I’d guess we’re coming back here for game 7, but both of these teams have been Jekyll and Hyde this series, so to me its really a toss up.

I’ve been posting messages over there for about a week. They are very confident and one guy, LawyerBoy, is really annoyed with our chants which I still don’t fully understand his point. I think it’s key that Ray Allen and Cassell has a good Game 6 for the Cs to win. If the rest just play their part, I like our chances of closing out in 6 with Rip and CB not 100%. It also appears that Prince has dissappeared this series.

What’s frustrating is that they (pro-players!) don’t break the press by attacking the middle instead of going to the sides which is common basketball IQ.

Homerism? Is it homerism to say that the Celtics dominating 3rd quarter was simply superior to Detroit’s 4th quarter comeback attempt? I don’t think so.

If the teams’ runs had been switched (Detroit’s in the 3rd and Boston’s in the 4th) everybody would be gushing about a 4th quarter comeback. If the team wins games in the 3rd instead of the 4th, what’s the difference? It’s still a win. There’s no homerism in that, and, in fact, a failure to appreciate that NBA games can effectively be won in any quarter (including the first quarter – see several early leads in this series that were never overcome) shows a lack of insight.

Maybe the national media and numerous posters think you get something extra for winning with style, but I’ll take the Celtic’s amazing 3rd quarter run, capped off with a gutsy end of game finish with clutch free throws to hold off the surging Pistons, and be more than happy with it. I’m ecstatic, actually. And no amount of negative analysis can change that.

3-2. Pretty or not.

I think I was just a little disturbed to log on to ESPN this morning and hear nothing but negativity about the Celtics… after a Celtics win that brings them one game from the Finals! I came to Celticsblog for a little relief and people seem down here too. I think I’m just of the opinion that this isn’t going to be easy, and I’ll take wins however they come.

Jeff, by saying that wins shouldn’t be “picked apart” I didn’t mean they shouldn’t be analyzed, and I’m sorry if I was unclear. I would just like to see a little enthusiasm from the home crowd here on this site. It “Celtics” blog and the team is one win from the Finals. Let’s all try to enjoy this somewhat – even “shakey” wins are still wins! ;D

(Remember where we were last year. Remember where we were last year…)

I’ll ABSOLUTELY take the win. Pretty or not (potential heart failure while watching or not). But we really do need to take a look at how we have this tendency to crumble late in the game. We’ve done it twice already in this series. This is what is giving Detroit their confidence and it’s what’s making me a little uneasy. What’s worse, I really don’t know where to go for a back up PG. I just get all kinds of nervous when Sam hits the floor because I just never know what kind of night he’s going to have AND I never know how long Doc is going to let him “Play it out”. Eddie House can’t seem to bring the ball up the floor although his energy is just undeniable. Anyway, I want a game 6 win but if I had to call it, I think we’re going to see a game 7.

With the reemergence of Ray Allen(it must be sleeve) i don’t think we will lose next game. We also need pierce to step up.

The celts have to play no nonsense defense next game. They need to stop also panicking when detroit does a pitino style defense in the 4th. Pierce for example needs to catch the ball, anticipate the double team, wait and pass it to the open guy

The Pistons are confident that they are one game away from elimination? Ok. LOL

Honestly, do you feel comfortable with the way the team played down the stretch? Are you at peace with the way the team has had to fight, scrape, and claw for every inch of these playoffs?

No one does, no one is at peace, but I don’t think we should be totally surprised either. This is still an “infant” in terms of a team. They are no where near the comfort level of the Pistons in terms of dealing with each other in crunch time or excecuting plays. It is obvious that the Pistons are the better “team.”

Having said that, Boston is STILL ahead in the series and they still find ways to win! The Pistons played a great (with the exception of a 5 min burst) game, the C’s not so good, they made some dumb errors down the stretch, but STILL managed to win. That is hopeful. Remember, the guys on the team set the expectation high this year in terms of winning the title. The players set that expectation. No one else expects them to win the title because they are still a new team. Right now, this is all gravy. Enjoy being in EC Finals. Enjoy the games that matter! Enjoy having a team that is a legitemate contender. Yes they are flawed, yes they make errors, yes they need to improve (Doc has been saying this from day 1 and continued to preach it even last night), but they are still winning despite those thing! Can we not enjoy that?

I guarantee that the Pistons are not as unconcerned as they are being made out to be. They’re facing elimination and must win two games in a row. Ray Allen started shooting last night, Perk started rebounding at a huge rate. Pierce and Garnett disappeared the last 5 minutes, Hamilton got hot, and they still lost. The Pistons are not as unconcerned as you think.

Deep down…we all know this is going 7. We knew it at the start of the season, start of the playoffs and the start of the series.

A game 7 v the Pistons on a Sunday evening??? Tell me a part of you doesn’t want that. A national stage (ABC) for us to re-introduce the Celtics to the world.

Having said that, I never understand why a visiting team would play tentative like we’ve done. Especially knowing you have a game in your back pocket. They should come out loose and just start running their stuff.

The 4th quarter woes are vastly overrated. Wouldn’t you rather be the team who is ahead by double figures in the fourth in both of those games then the team who has to pull out all the stops, pressing and trapping all over the floor only to still come up short? Like TheRev72 has said, it is a game of runs, and the C’s put enough distance between themselves and the Pistons, to make their desperate 4th quarter comeback fall just short. Didn’t the C’s do the work to get to that point? I think people are missing the point on this one. I don’t think anyone can conclude that the Celts just don’t play well down the stretch because of the desperate comeback by the Pistons, unsuccessful twice I might add, after falling way behind. If the game had been, or is, back and forth the whole way, it takes on a completely different complexion, and the game would play out differently. I’ll take getting ahead by double digits, and just hanging on to win at the end all day long, a win is a win!! Could the Celtics get better at managing these situations? Of course, but that deficiency has not yet cost them an actual W, and it just gets swept under the rug that the C’s were good enough in the first place to pull so far ahead of the Pistons.

No big lead, then no trapping D, no trying to “hang on” and hope the clock runs out, admittedly an immature approach, which our team still is in these situations, but there is absolutely no carryover in a different kind of game. Concerned? Only if concerned means in Detroit in Friday, the Celtics are ahead by 15 in the 4th, and we all worry that the Celtics can’t/won’t hold the lead. I’ll take that position all day long. Does the Celtics wavering a bit after being far ahead on the scoreboard mean they don’t play well in the 4th in any kind of game? That is a huge leap.

i’ve been a critic of doc, but i want to praise this big decision of his. with the big seasonal lead, he rested the big 3 and played sam,pj and the subs a lot toward the end. i was worried that they would lose their rhythm. what has happened is that the starters are playing much more in this series and they got their rest at the end of the season. good decision post-partem- doc.

If you go to Detroit and Boston’s Home page and click on Team stats both teams are very close in their stats. Going 7 games could happen but better to play the bench more in game 6 if things are not going well so you are fresh for game 7. When Sam had trouble bringing up the ball against Hunter I cannot see why you cannot set up a pick at that time from your big man to help out. If Stuckey and Hunter are in at the same time put in Rondo and Sam to bring the ball up. If it is Hamilton and Hunter have Rondo and Ray bring up the ball.

Just to be factually correct, Jeff:

The Piston are actually 2-3 in the ECF over the last five years, not 1-4. The defeated the Pacers, 4-2, in 2004 and defeated the Heat, 4-3, in 2005. They lost to: Nets, 4-0, in 2003; Heat, 4-2, in 2006; and Cleveland, 4-2, in 2007.

Your point was well-made, anyways. Just don’t want any Pistons fans claiming your facts are all wrong.

Glad to here Detroit fans are so confident. It’ll make the win even sweeter!

I sense the C’s closing this out Friday night. I have a feeling this will be a replica of game 3.

we won the game but it’s like we lost according to the media and the Pistons. Well, I’ll take the win over a good comeback loss any day. Consider that for us to win Ray had to hit a huge shot and then Ray and Garnett had to hit thier free throws. It wasn’t pretty but we did pull it out. Detroit has made 2 stirring comebacks and come up short both times. I guess the thinking in Detroit is well if we didn’t fall so far behind we would have won easily. I don’t buy that because the style they played to get back into the game isn’t the style they’re going to play for 48 minutes plus we played differently too which allowed them to come back. In the end we won 2 games and they lost 2. Now for game 6 with everyone saying we’re not a championship team, we’re choke artists etc there is NO pressure on us. How could there be? We stink apparently. I don’t care what it looks like or how we get it done as long as by the time the final buzzer sounds we have one more point than they do. GO CELTS!!

We won but we let them believe that we are ripe for the taking. I felt just the way their fans do after Detroit beat us in Game 2. Great teams hang on and win the close ones. The Pistons ARE a very good team but we hung on. No reason to be confident though.

Rondo needs some time on bench to rest and get calm. Sam is no longer a reliable ball handler. Go with Eddie. He will battle around picks which Detroit uses to perfection.

If Perk stays out of foul trouble he showed he can be a real asset. But Doc should have low tolerance for dumbness – Defensive 3 secs, leaving Sheed at 3 pt line, technical foul for yapping.

 Where’s Leon? Give him some minutes on Maxiel. We need fresher legs in 4th Qtr.

Detroit’s chances rest on Rip’s health first and foremost. We’ll wait and see where he’s at first. If he isn’t able to go or to play at a high level the Pistons lose.

Celtics are capable of closing it out on the road in Game Six. The C’s are the better side and should win. Hopefully it’ll be a good game.

Typical response from a Boston fan,no moral victories buddy,but you and I know that this thing is gonna go to 7 games,there is just no way that we are gonna let you guys come into our house and celebrate on our home floor,I predict another grind out game on Sunday in beantown wit the feeling of disgust on every celtics fans face in the so called new garden ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Jeff, you’re being Scott McClelland-ed here. Good analysis that recognizes that we are a work in progress. We didn’t play well in the second half and we’re going to have to improve on our zone press attack, shot selection, etc. to get the banner.

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