Visiting the Palace

Jen and I went to the Palace of Auburn Hills on Saturday to watch Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. We were in the second to last row of the upper bowl, just behind the end line of the SW corner of the court. We could see everything well. Unfortunately, the Pistons played like they expected the win to come easily and lost miserably. We went with our friends Tammi and Edith and still had a great time.

Pistons Stunned in Game 3
Celtics 94, Pistons 80

The Celtics regained home-court advantage of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night with their first road playoff win in seven tries. Though from the look of their 14-point victory in Game 3 at The Palace, you'd think they had never left Boston. The Celtics scored the first 11 points of the game, withstood a pair of Detroit runs directed by Rodney Stuckey in the first and fourth quarters and held the Pistons to 80 points. Boston's top ranked defense had been more permeable away from TD Banknorth Garden - allowing 95.3 points entering Saturday - but it clearly had something going for it at The Palace. The Pistons misfired early and often (38 percent FG shooting) and were outrebounded, 44-28

Rodney Stuckey went to work earlier than usual when Billups picked up his second foul in the first quarter. And he had his work cut out for him, already down 15-4. But he sparked 13 unanswered points by driving to the basket and repeatedly drawing contact. He drew a foul for two free throws, had a breakaway that led to two more, and then bullied his way past Cassell to find Maxiell cutting to the basket. Wallace tipped in Maxiell's attempt at the rim, and Detroit had its first lead of the game with Billups on the bench, 17-15. He scored 17 points and was 9-of-10 at the line.

Paul Pierce didn't even shoot the ball after his game-opening dunk. Ray Allen shot like Game 2 never happened, missing five of his first six shots. The "White Out" crowd at The Palace was ready for any reason to explode. But the Pistons could not take advantage in the first half, as the Celtics bench made its mark on the series. Sam Cassell - who had not made a field goal since Game 2 of the Cleveland series (May 8) - delivered five points, including a triple. James Posey - who had five points in games 1 and 2 combined - scored eight points in the first half - or the same as Billups (2), Hamilton (4) and Prince (2) combined. The statistical oddity is not nearly as significant as the confidence it gives to the Celtics' supporting cast heading into Game 4.

SAUNDERS: "In [Game 2] we choked off their role players and tonight their role players really were the ones who really hurt us. Garnett had a huge game and Paul did some steady things but you look at what Perkins did, you look at the guys off the bench. When the score's a close game Cassell comes in and makes a couple big shots to go on a 10-0 run to finish the (second) quarter and they took the game over at that point again."