In Battle Of East Powers, Superior Feeling Grows About C's

[BDodgers at aol.com]

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images  
After taking an elbow on the chin from Chauncey Billups,  Rajon Rondo and the 
Celtics took control for a 90-78 win over the Pistons.  Kevin Garnett's 31 
points led the way in the showdown of East leaders.  
 
 


In Battle Of East Powers, Superior Feeling Grows About  C's 


 
 
(http://x.go.com/cgi/x.pl?goto=http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=chris_sheridan&name=SEARCH_m_archive&srvc=sz)  
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com




BOSTON -- Let's just come right out and say it: The better team won.  
Yes, it's time to go ahead and make that statement. The _Boston Celtics_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=bos)  are better than the _Detroit 
Pistons_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=det) . They proved it 
Wednesday night in ways  big and small, looking fresher, hungrier, deeper and 
more efficient than the  team they've been measuring themselves against 
throughout their season of  rebirth.  
"We know this [conference] is going to be won by one of three teams, and this 
 is one of them," Celtics forward _Kevin Garnett_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3007)  said after the 90-78 win over the  Pistons. 
 
The third team that Garnett was referencing was the _Cleveland Cavaliers_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=cle) , but the Cavs haven't been a  
measuring stick for the Celtics the way the Pistons have. When Boston and  
Detroit met for the first time back in December, the Pistons used their veteran  
savvy to rally in the fourth quarter and eke out a two-point win. When they 
met  again in Auburn Hills in January, the growth of the Celtics was evident as 
they  outworked the Pistons through the latter part of the second half and 
defeated  Detroit in its own building.  
Boston's evolving maturity level was even more honed Wednesday night as the  
C's took control early and then didn't hang their heads when the Pistons 
closed  the third quarter with a 7-0 run to tie it entering the fourth. As the 
final 12  minutes played out, the Celtics reasserted themselves (with the help of 
some  dubious calls that went against _Rasheed Wallace_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3006)  and _Antonio McDyess_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3004) ) while the Pistons were looking 
lost on  offense, failing to move the ball and failing to get stops that would 
have kept  them in striking range when the game got to the final two minutes. 
 
"Part of the problem is that when things start going south, our guys think  
they can do it by themselves, but we don't have those types of players. Our  
players are geared toward somebody making a play for somebody else. That's how  
this team has been built. It hasn't been built on a superstar carrying us down 
 the stretch," Detroit coach Flip Saunders lamented.  
Wallace's composure was near the breaking point as he practically dared the  
officials to give him a technical foul after the outcome had been decided, and 
 _Chauncey Billups_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3174) ' composure was lacking, too, when he  picked up a fourth-quarter 
technical foul (coaches always tell players that if  they're going to get a tech for 
complaining, don't do it in the fourth quarter)  for arguing a chippy reach-in 
call.  
The composure on the other side was an entirely different story, and it  
wasn't just coming from the three guys you expect it from -- Garnett (31 points,  
six rebounds, three assists), _Paul Pierce_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3253)  (16 points, five assists) or _Ray Allen_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3080)  (whose tireless defense 
on _Rip Hamilton_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3330)  
was one of the keys to the game that  didn't show up in the stat sheet). Some 
of it came from point guard _Rajon Rondo_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=4149) , whose emphatic driving one-handed dunk  midway 
though the third quarter "brought the roof off the building," as Garnett  said, 
and plenty of it came from _Kendrick Perkins_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3730) , who grabbed 20 rebounds, scored 10  points and 
blocked two shots in 33 rugged minutes.  
You didn't hear anyone talking afterward about how _Sam Cassell_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=1295)  and _P.J. Brown_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=814)  are really going to help 
this team, because  is all honesty, the Celtics -- at least on this night -- 
didn't look like they  needed either of them.  
"It means a lot," Perkins said. "We needed this game to really see where we  
were, and I think we need to build off it, stay humble and just keep working." 
 
This was the final meeting of the regular season between the teams, and the  
Celtics' victory gave them the tiebreaker should they finish with identical  
records. With 22 games remaining (24 for the Celtics), Boston has a five-game  
advantage in the loss column and does not have any more games left against  
Cleveland and Orlando, the two teams fighting it out for third place in the  
East. A tough five-game road trip still awaits them later this month, but  
Tuesday night's victory gave them an extra two-game cushion, as a loss would  have 
meant that they'd have to finish ahead of Detroit to clinch home-court  
advantage through the Eastern playoffs.  
Knowing the Pistons, we haven't heard the last of them. But as the months and 
 years go by and we continue to see them lacking anything resembling a 
consistent  intensity, it's time to start surmising that their window of opportunity 
is  closing a little more with each passing day. Yes, the starting five is 
still as  strong as anyone's, but the bench (which scored a combined five 
points) includes  only one player (_Jason Maxiell_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3952) ) who contributed anything of significance  a year 
ago. The aura and swagger that embodied the Pistons for so long both seem  to 
have lapsed.  
The Pistons still take comfort in their belief that they'll be able to turn  
it up a notch when needed, but we've been hearing that from them for so long,  
it's hard to continue believing them -- especially when we see them fall as 
flat  as they did on this night against a team that seems to have surpassed 
them.  
Yes, surpassed them.  
Because although it may have been a 50-50 proposition before tipoff who was  
truly the better team, it was evident afterward that the Celtics can now  
rightfully make that claim.  
Right now, Boston is better than Detroit. 




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