The Detroit Pistons of a few years ago made a habit out of playing lackluster basketball for 2 and a half quarters, flipping a switch, dominating for a half a quarter, and then coasting to the win. Sound familiar?
After a sloppy first half, the Celtics came out in the 3rd quarter and ...kept playing sloppy. However, after Coach Clifford Ray told the team to start playing like "Junkyard Dogs" they put the clamps down on defense and followed Rondo's lead on offense.
I never liked it when the Pistons pulled that routine and I didn't really like it much tonight. The danger with letting teams like this hang around that long is that sometimes they don't go away and they steal a win. But a win is a win. I just hope they know how to turn it on in the playoffs and against the better teams.
The good news, of course, is that they finished well. Which wasn't the case against the Hawks or Pacers.
Pierce didn't show too many signs of being injured and finished strong with 19 points to lead the team. Rondo had a great stat line with 18 points, 12 assists, and 7 rebounds. Nice game for Perk with 15 and 7. A well rounded scoring effort as 6 scored in double figures and Sheed added 8.