Game Two: Boston vs Detroit

I think this game is Detroit’s best chance to win on Boston’s homecourt. The energy and focus has been incredible in Boston during game fives and game sevens. Detroit don’t want to be going into those games looking for their first away win in the series and they must win away from home because Boston has homecourt.

• Detroit win the tip. Billups gets Perk on the switch, draws the foul on the runner, he’ll go to the line. Hits both.
• Billups is defending Ray
• Pierce kept out of the paint, jumps up with nowhere to go, to KG, travel by Garnett. Very good defense by Detroit to stop the penetration.
• Tayshaun taking a disgusting off balance fallaway with no elevation dribbling sideways and shooting from 18 feet
• Pierce shoots off the dribble, good shot
• Billups stripped, Pierce steals, Billups rips it out of his hands. Sheed on the wing, drives, stripped by KG. 24 second violation.
• Ray gets to the hoop, fouled, hits two
• Billups goes into the post against Rondo, muscles him out of the way, spins middle, layup, miss, tip by McDyess, miss
• Offensive foul on Rasheed Wallace. Moving pick. That looked like a foul on Kevin Garnett, he pushed over Wallace on the screen and Ray pulled him backwards on the other side. Bad call.
• Rondo steals the offensive rebound, but throws it away after reseting the offense. Defensive rebound Rondo on the other end.
• Garnett gets Rip on the switch, post up, turnaround J on the catch, hits it
• McDyess hits the baseline J from 16 feet. Detroit’s first field goal.
• Garnett hits from 15 feet at the FT line fallaway out of the post
• Rasheed gets a technical foul. That’s 5 techs this playoffs. 7 is the line where suspensions begin.
• Rip Hamilton draws the foul on Ray, shoots two, hits two
• Celts lead 10-6
• Pierce pull up J off the dribble from 18 feet falling backwards from Billups’ challenge, hits it at the shot clock buzzer
• Dice hits another 14 footer
• Rip Hamilton dribbles up and pops from 20 feet. Pierce stood too far back, gotta get up on shooters
• KG takes a 16 footer off the dribble, he started at the top of the key, dribble drive left, pull up, miss
• Perkins blocks Rip’s layup
• Hamilton blocks Pierce’s three but Ray gets it right under the hoop, layup
• Pierce blocks Billups
• Ray drives to the rim again, doesn’t get the call, miss
• Rondo steals the entry pass to Rip, turnover.
• Timeout
• 24 second violation. Rondo got an open look off the Ray drive and kick, passed it up, drove into the paint, let the clock wind out before his pass hit the recipient
• Entry pass to Sheed, hand off to the cutting Hamilton, Ray tips it off Rip, turnover out of bounds
• Bad entry pass to KG, stolen by McDyess
• Billups finds McDyess open under the hoop, his defender got lost covering for the off the ball screen after the on the ball screen, Perk tried to read the play, McDyess went backdoor and ended up open underneath the rim
• Pierce takes Prince off the dribble, layup
• Another timeout. Man that was quick. What’s it been, a minute and a half? It’s the first quarter. Play the damn game.
• 2 minutes to go
• Billups draws the foul on House, hits two of three FTs, sloppy foul by House getting too close and into the body of Chauncey. No need for that 25 feet from the hoop. Just contest the shot. The man is a 92% FT shooter.
• 16-16 Tie Game
• Garnett fadeaway from 16 feet on the left wing
• McDyess is just too small. Maxiell too. KG can just shoot over the top of these guys
• Billups drives hard right along the sideline, pull up from 21 feet, hits it
• Offensive foul KG, pushed off trying to seal McDyess, pushed off to avoid Antonio stealing the pass
• House deflects it out of play. Pistons inbound the ball, Prince with another ugly fadeaway 20 footer, air ball, 24 second violation
• PJ Brown enters. Posey, House already in there. Maxiell comes in for Detroit, Stuckey already in.
• Dumb foul by Stuckey, Pierce gets two FTs, hits two FTs
• End of One
• Powe in
• House pressured hard, dumb foul by Stuckey, sideline out
• House misses an open 19 footer
• Stuckey comes right up, takes a quick 18 footer off the dribble, bad shot, misses badly too.
• Powe travels inside after the catch
• Rip shoots from behind the screen, 20 footer, miss
• Blocking foul on Theo. that’s their third foul of the quarter. Barely a minute has passed.
• Pierce takes the three off the the dribble to beat the clock, miss
• Alley oop to Prince, dunk
• Stuckey deflects the pass out of bounds
• Glen Davis comes in for Powe. Rondo too, Rondo’s three is blocked, Posey has to shoot from 31 feet to beat the clock, in and out, Detroit rebound
• Offensive foul on Ray Allen, that’s three on Ray
• Timeout Boston
• Detroit lead 23-20
• Stuckey steals it, throws it away, Rondo picks it off, dribbles back in from midcourt, spots Pierce near the hoop, foul. Messy play. Pierce hits both FTs.
• 8 minutes to go in the half
• Hunter drives hard right going baseline, pull back J over Pierce from 18 feet, hits it
• Ratliff fouls. Soft foul. 7 minutes left in the quarter, Detroit are in the penalty. Garnett gets two FTs, hits two.
• Pierce/Ray/KG have all 24 Boston points. Pierce has 11, KG 8, Ray 5.
• Hunter uses a nice V cut, bounces back out, open in the corner, three pointer, hits it
• Pierce gets inside again, spots Posey in the corner, three pointer. Very bad defense by Rip Hamilton. Rip’s quicker, Pierce should not beat him off the dribble.
• McDyess hits from the FT line
• Bad pass by Pierce, off the back of Posey, Rip Hamilton steals it, runs, tries to split KG left, right, left, layup, blocked. Posey gets an open three in the corner off the drive and kick on the break the other way, miss. Detroit run back down, McDyess pump fakes KG, give and go, fouled by BBD. He hits the layup and the foul shot
• Pistons lead 31-27
• Timeout
• Halfway point
• Rondo knocks down the baseline J from 20 feet. Big shot. Boston need some of it’s supporting cast to get more involved offensively, especially with Ray sitting in foul trouble.
• Garnett drives inside, wild shot, miss, offensive rebound, foul on Stuckey reaching in on Rondo’s dribble. Two more FTs. Rondo makes both.
• Blocking foul on Pierce, his foot was inside the area, Rip misses the layup, hits both FTs
• Pistons lead 34-31 with under 5 to play
• Pierce on the midpost on the right wing. Rip Hamilton cheats off of Rondo, goes to the low right block. Pierce drives towards the middle, Rip backs off to the left block, Pierce spins back right, fadeaway, hits it from 12 feet. Very controlled drive by Paul. Good stuff
• Another blocking foul on Pierce. Rip shoots two more, hits two more. He’s now 2-5 from the floor, 6-6 at the line.
• 4 minutes to play
• Billups pull up J from 16 feet off of the turnover, hits it. Garnett was running back with him, why he didn’t drive.
• Entry pass to Garnett, bad pass, tapped out by McDyess, Tony Allen gets the loose ball, drives to the hoop, miss, KG gets the layup
• Pierce has a 15 footer rim out on the fallaway, defensive rebound Sheed, loose ball foul Perkins. Rasheed gets the first, and the second.
• 3 minutes to play
• Garnett pushes off, no call, drives again, takes the fadeaway bank shot on the right wing from 14 feet, hits it
• Foul off the ball on Tony Allen. Rip Hamilton will shoot two more. Tony was hanging onto him on the screens off the ball. Rip makes the first, misses the second.
• Pistons lead 41-37
• Tony Allen into KG, KG open on the 10 footer in the paint, passes up, Rondo contested 18 footer, misses
• Billups nails a three at the shot clock buzzer
• Pierce playing the point now, bringing it up again, Rondo cuts to the rim, Perk finds him, floater, miss, Perkins gets the rebound and the putback
• Billups drives inside, finds Rip, 18 footer, hits it
• Tony Allen leaks out, long outlet pass, Tony takes it to the rim, hard foul to stop the layup
• Chauncey Billups hurt himself on that drive, not sure what happened. Billups wants to stay in. Doesn’t look great. Flip pulled up Hunter to check in but was waved off by Billups.
• Tony makes 1 of 2.
• Prince off a baseline screen, 19 footer, hits it
• Pierce weaveing, Garnett drives from 22 feet, down the left lane, finds Perk under the rim, fouled by Detroit.
• Hamilton gets the bounce
• 16 seconds to play. Boston ball.
• Pistons lead 50-41
• Ray Allen back in for the final possession, Afflalo is in too
• Pierce gets the clearout, going nowhere, Hunter knocks the ball loose, trips up Pierce going for the loose ball. Pierce makes both FTs
• Halftime
• Pistons lead 50-43
• Some Team Stats – Boston pounding Detroit on the boards 22-12 and 8-1 on offensive rebounds. Both teams have taken 33 shots. Boston have 5 assists on 13 makes shooting 39%. Detroit have 10 assists on 17 makes shooting 52%. Combined steals/blocks Detroit lead 8-6. Detroit have 2 turnovers costing them 2 points. Boston have 8 turnovers costing them 4 points.
• The Pistons backcourt has combined for 26 points. Rip has 15, Billups 11. They only had a combined 7 points in the first half of game one, that’s the difference tonight.
• Some Pistons Stats – McDyess also has 11 points, 2 boards, 2 steals. Sheed is 0-2 from the field with 5 rebounds. Prince has 4. Their bench has 7 in 24 minutes, they had 2 rebounds, 3 dimes and 2 steals.
• Some Boston Stats – Pierce leads Boston with 15, 2 and 2. Garnett has 12, 4 and 2 blocks. ray has 5. Rondo has 4 points, 2 dimes, 2 steals and 7 rebounds. Perk has 4 and 4. Boston’s bench has played 22 minutes scoring 3 points with 4 rebounds.

Second half

• Pistons lead 50-43
• Rondo misses a 16 footer on the left wing, Ray tips it out, Rondo gets it, Rondo hits Ray immediately, layup
• Hamilton misses a baseline J
• Pierce nails a three from the top of the key
• McDyess dunks home the offensive rebound
• Garnett misses a 20 footer on the left wing, rebound Wallace.
• Ray Allen pokes away the entry pass, Pierce drives into the paint, hand off to KG, layup, miss, offensive rebound, layup
• Prince drives right, spins left, one hander lefty hook, hits it
• Rondo uses his behind the back ball fake, runner, miss, defensive rebound, turnover, stolen by Ray. Ray dribbles around the screen, 20 footer, hits it
• Rip misses a layup on the hard drive, ball bounces out to him for the 15 foot baseline J, miss
• Defensive rebound Boston, fastbreak, Ray Allen layup
• Timeout
• 54-54 Tied Game
• Detroit miss again, Ray draws the foul. Hits two at the line
• Ray forces another turnover, out of bounds of Rip.
• 8 minutes to play in the third
• Rondo dribbles for 11 seconds, inside to Perk on the left block, move across the lane, gives it up to Ray, drives right to the rim, to Perk, to Ray, 15 footer along the baseline, hits it
• Billups misses another shot
• Ray misses a 19 footer off the bounce
• Rip wide open in the left corner, hits it. All started with Prince on the right block against Rondo, Boston had to double, Detroit swung the ball, made three passes to the opposite corner, three pointer.
• Boston lead 58-57
• We’re at the halfway point in the third
• Wallace hits a three on the left wing
• Pierce gets a layup
• Billups on the pick and pop, Rondo slips, Billups faces up, three pointer right wing, hits it.
• Garnett doubled in the post, gives it up, Rondo at 15 feet, nowhere to go, nothing going, dribbles right, passes it across to KG, deflected out of bounds. 7 seconds on the possession. Garnett pops out, three pointer, air ball. A good 4 feet short of the rim.
• Ray Allen picks up his fourth foul. Doc leaves him in, good call.
• Billups picks up his dribble, he’s in trouble, lob pass out to Sheed, he’s sealing Rondo on the midpost, Rondo gambles for the steal, doesn’t get it, Billups goes to the rim, fouled by Perk. Tech on Rondo. Billups hits the tech. Billups hits the first of two, and the second.
• Pistons lead 66-60
• Pistons on a 12-2 run
• Garnett hits the 21 footer. Just a step inside of his three pointer from a play below. Uncontested, McDyess didn’t even get a hand up.
• Perkins blocks Billups driving layup, fastbreak the other way, nothing going, Rondo gets teh ball and resets. Over to Pierce, 7 on the clock, high post, Pierce turns his head goes left, Rip runs over, Pierce spins back towards the middle, steal by Rip. Rip runs it up, back to Billups, Dice open in the middle, they can’t get it to him, over to Prince, Dice posts up Ray Allen, entry pass to the post, Pierce comes over and fouls. Sideline ball.
• Pistons turnover, Rondo leads the one man break going head to head with Wallace, goes to the rim, foul. Rondo makes both FTs.
• Pistons easily beat the backcourt pressure. Philadelphia prepared them well.
• Rip Hamilton on the catch at the top of the key from 18 feet, dribble right, pump fake, gets Ray up, draws the contact and the foul. That’s 5 on Ray. Rip makes two at the line.
• 3 minutes to play
• Pistons lead 68-64
• Pistons 20-22 from the line, Celtics 19-21.
• Rondo on the drive and kick, to Garnett, no shot, back to Rondo as he circles back up, passes up the open shot. Bailed out by the refs on a soft call on the drive. Lucky lad. He makes both FTs. Rondo shooting well from the FT line tonight, and in the playoffs in general.
• McDyess misses the baseline J at 20 feet, offensive rebound Prince, putback, rebound Prince, he brings it back out. Foul on Rondo for covering Prince’s face with his hand. Not an inch out from his face, I mean covering his face touch foul. Prince makes both
• These silly fouls from Boston are why Detroit are leading
• Garnett doubled, nothing going, to Rondo on the left corner, Rondo under handed bullet pass off the dribble, turnover.
• Foul on Garnett off the ball. Rip misses the first, hits the second. Up 5.
• Rondo sits down. Eddie House is in. Rip to pressure the ball. Light pressure, House advances it easily. Back to Pierce on the midpost on the left elbow, fadeaway, tough shot, hits it.
• Stuckey dribbles in, pump fake, loses the defense, 14 footer, hits it
• 1 minute to go in the third
• Pierce gets a clear out. Drives on Rip, great defense by Rip, Pierce forced to pass in midair, turnover, Stuckey leads the break, run out, Posey fouls him. Stuckey makes both.
• 35 seconds, House dribbles for 9 seconds, gets it to Pierce, drives left, draws the defense, finds Davis under the rim, blocked by Sheed, fouled by Ratliff. Davis gets the high 3 foot bounce and in on his first attempt. He makes the second too.
• Rasheed Wallace nails a three
• Boston bring it back up for the final shot, miss by House
• End of Three

Fourth Quarter

• Loose ball, tied up. Jump ball. Stuckey and BBD. BBD wins it, tapped out by Theo.
• Rasheed Wallace down on the left block, turnaround, hits it
• Pistons lead 82-71
• PJ, BBD, Pierce, Posey, Rondo. Not a lineup full of firepower.
• Pierce fadeaway from 20 feet at the top of the key, hits it again. Very tough shot.
• Stuckey with the high pick and roll on the left wing, drives hard to the bucket, finishes over PJ, tough basket.
• Foul on Theo showing on the pick. Dumb foul.
• Ray and KG check in
• Prince drives baseline, gets nothing, out to Hunter, has to take it to beat the clock, miss, offensive rebound McDyess. Hunter dribbles for 11 seconds, nothing on, Prince dribbles for 10 seconds, gets nothing, misses the runner
• Fastbreak, Rondo misses the layup, offensive rebound Ray, layup.
• JVG is right. Too many Pistons aren’t getting back on transition D.
• Stuckey hits a 22 footer on the left wing
• Offensive rebound long out to Pierce at the three point line, kept alive by Ray along the way, hard drive, to PJ, 10 footer
• Flip Saunders has been going to Stuckey for go-to offense here in the fourth
• Ray Allen on the drive, dunk
• Timeout Detroit
• 7 minutes to play
• Detroit lead 86-79
• Rip drives right, pull up, double teamed, miss
• Rondo back in
• PJ Brown hits a 18 footer on the right wing
• 3 second violation against Detroit, turnover
• Celtic ball. Timeout.
• Pistons lead 86-81. The Pistons lead has been halved by a 6-0 Boston run
• Pierce to Garnett on the screen and roll, push off by KG, not called, layup
• McDyess hits the baseline J. He’s 7-11 tonight.
• Ray on the curl, three pointer from the top of the key, hits it. Two point game.
• Prince on the drive, rolling hook coming across the lane from the right wing, goal tend by Garnett.
• 5 minutes to play. Loads of time on the clock. The clock is Boston’s friend.
• Ray Allen on the curl, drives inside, 10 footer, runner, hits it
• Rip Hamilton with a carbon copy
• Pierce on the pull up, hesitates, blocked by Prince on the shot  attempt
• Prince wide open on the three pointer, Pierce got caught on the screen, miss
• Long outlet pass on the rebound, ahead to Pierce, blocking foul on Billups on the drive. Sideline out.
• Rondo’s pass deflected, KG gets it, KG drives right from the top of the key beyond the three point line, shot, stripped, KG gets it back, 16 footer
• Dice misses the 16 footer, kept alive by Prince, Prince pops out, left wing, catch and shoot, hits it
• Under 3 minutes to play
• Ray up top, blocked by Rip, turnover
• Wallace 20 footer on the baseline. Huge shot. Nice pass by Rip on the pick and pop.
• Timeout Celtics
• Detroit lead 96-90
• Ray on the currl, no shot, drives in, out to KG, baseline J, hits it
• 2 minutes to play
• Wallace step back three, miss, offensive rebound Rip Hamilton, he brings it back out instead of taking the layup, they want the clock on their side, Prince misses a three, Celtics run it up, baseline runner by Ray Allen, miss. Foul on Rondo. Sideline out.
• 1:12 to play
• Detroit lead 96-92
• Billups brings it up, dribbleds for 14 seconds, gets Rip on the curl, nothing going, Rip catches it with 6 on the clock, he dribbles back out to 40 feet, KG with him, he’s in the corner, drives right by him, through the middle of the floor, runner from the FT line, hits it. Wow. What a shot.
• Detroit lead 98-92
• Detroit have killed Boston on the offensive rebounds here in the fourth quarter. The Celtics just couldn’t find a way to protect their backboards. Dice and Sheed pulled both of the bigs out and from there Detroit just found a way to steal a few.
• 50 seconds to play
• Posey inbounds to pierce, Pierce dribbles, high screen and roll at 30 feet, Pierce drives right, Wallace stays with him on the switch, nothing going, Pierce checks back, crossover dribble, dribbles back left into the paint, layup
• Billups dribbles up calmly, Prince gets a good look from 15 feet, blocked by Posey. 3 seconds left on the shot clock. Flip decides to use a timeout to set up a play.
• Inbounds to Billups, reverse layup. That’s the game. Billups curled off a stagger screen, Posey got lost on the screen, Billups was wide open under the rim. Pierce was defending the inbounds pass, he left the middle open to take away the corner to stop Rip popping out for a J
• Rondo drives, nothing oging, out to Ray, Ray gets the screen, long three, hits it.
• Detroit timeout as they fail to inbounds the ball
• 10.7 seconds to play
• 100-97 Pistons
• Detroit have to hit FTs now
• Detroit can’t get it in, Timeout, that’s their final timeout
• Detroit can’t ge it in, forced to lob it across to Wallace, foul on Posey. Wallace will go to the line. Wallace steps back, takes a long walk up. 10.2 left on the clock. Pistons have a foul to give. Wallace takes the first, makes the first, four point game, he takes the second, misses the second. Quick timeout by Boston.
• 9.8 seconds to play
• Boston have no timeouts left
• Detroit lead 101-97
• Posey inbounds, they can’t get it in, Pierce in the corner, decides to drive, nobody is leaving their shooters, out to KG, three, miss. Defensive rebound Prince. Foul.
• Game Over

Detroit just stole homecourt. Good win.