Silver Lining?

Ugh, last night's loss left a bitter taste in my mouth to say the least.  I'm trying to fin the proper words to describe it, but it's proving more difficult than I had anticipated.  I could say that this loss was deflating and/or disheartening, but I'm not sure that it was all bad and completely demoralizing.  In fact, despite the loss, there were a few things that went well for the Celtics that I could see them using to recapture the edge in this series.

First off, there was the reemergence of Ray Allen on the offensive end of the floor, snapping perhaps the worst and most untimely slump of his career.  Last night, Ray scored 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting (2-4 from behind the arc) and looked confident and aggressive on the floor.  Gone was the hesitation in his game that had plagued him throughout the Cleveland series as Allen found the range from deep and took the ball aggressively to the basket throughout the game.  Allen wasn't afraid to take, and make, big shots down the stretch, and at least twice he had me jumping out of my seat and banging on the table down at the Tortoise (my apologies, by the way, to anybody that was in my immediate vicinity that I disturbed).  It was great to see Ray playing like we know he should, although the loss makes this performance particularly hard to swallow.

I'd like to add one or two other impressive things before I get into the long list of the bad stuff from last night's 103-97 loss to the Detroit Pistons.  Offensively, the Celtics looked pretty good last night, shooting 48.6% from the field.  Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett both had efficient and productive games last night, as did emerging point guard Rajon Rondo, who missed a triple-double by only one rebound and two assists.  Pierce scored 26 points on 9-16 shooting and added four rebounds and six assists as well.  Garnett played even better, scoring 24 points on 11 of 19 shooting, gobbled up 13 rebounds, and added two blocks just for good measure (one of them, by the way, was an incredible feat of athleticism where Garnett chased down Rip Hamilton by himself on the break and met him at the rim for the crushing rejection that saved an easy basket).  Garnett's play was once again stellar, proving once and for all that serial panic like Simmons (and everybody else in the Boston sports media) are full of it and no better at predicting the fortunes of the Bean town clubs than anybody else, not even a lowly college grad with a laptop stuck in rainy Portland, Oregon.

The Celtics lost last night because of two problem areas, which were team defense and bench scoring.  I'll start with the bench woes first and then talk about everything that went awry on defense last night, if y'all don't mind (who am I kidding, nobody reads this tripe, I'll do what I want!).  To put it bluntly, the Celtics bench stunk last night.  In a combined 57 minutes last night, the Celtics bench scored a whopping 8 points on 3-11 shooting (including 1-6 from three-point distance), and contributed only three rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.  These numbers are ghastly, and if you were to remove PJ Brown from that group, the bench would have been 1-9 from the field, and responsible for only one rebound and zero assists!  Speaking of Brown, he deserves a quick commendation for once again providing quality minutes and stepping up by hitting big shots in crunch time and proving that he is a true competitor and an invaluable asset for the Boston Celtics.

Now, onto the grimmer and infinitely less pleasant matter of what went wrong last night.  The Celtics defense last night was abominable to say the least.  The Pistons shot 49% from the floor and 50% from the land of three, and to top it all off, they absolutely killed the Celtics from the free throw line, converting 28 of 32 attempts.  Detroit was aggressive and balanced in their offensive attack, continually punishing the Celtics defense by making the extra pass and finding open shooters.

What's worse is that the Celtics made several mental mistakes down the stretch that were easily preventable and could have given the Celtics the win last night, but instead ended up squandering brilliant offensive performances from their stars.  There were many defensive breakdowns, however one in particular hurt more than the rest and was indicative of the overall defensive effort last night.  Down by four in the closing minutes, the Celtics (specifically Paul Pierce) blew a standard inbounds play that ended up as an easy catch and score lay-up for Chauncey Billups underneath the Celtics basket that extended the lead back to six and buried the Celtics for the rest of the game.  The really sad part is that the Celtics were turning the tide and staging a comeback prior to this lapse and had defended the initial Detroit possession so well up until that point (the Pistons were in-bounding on the baseline because the Celtics had blocked the ball out of bounds with less than ten seconds to go on the shot clock). 

It seemed that at every turn last night, the Celtics came up just short on defense and were incapable of getting the stops they needed in order to retake the lead from Detroit.  Whether it was a loose ball or a defensive rotation, the Celtics were simply a step slower than the Pistons.  Although the Celtics actually controlled the glass in the box score, it seemed that they missed every crucial rebound and got punished for being slow.  To put things in perspective, last night Detroit scored 103 points in Boston, which was an astounding 24 points above the Celtics average points allowed at home in the postseason.  The defensive effort just was not there.

So the Celtics finally lost a home game in the postseason, which makes them look extremely vulnerable and weak considering their postseason road woes.  Add to that the talent, skill and depth of the Detroit Pistons and the outlook for Boston is turning dark and bleak with every passing minute.  So it would seem however I am still optimistic for the Celtics' Playoff prospects and I think that they have a great chance of beating the Pistons in Auburn Hills.  How so?  For starters, you must remember that as good as the Pistons are and as good as they have been on the road, they have always been inconsistent and underwhelming when playing at home.  That's not to say that they're a bad team, however it is worth noting that the Pistons already lost to the Philadelphia 76ers at home this postseason, and were it not for some poor officiating and homer timekeepers, the Pistons could have very well dropped a game to the Orlando magic in round two.  Add to that the fact that the Celtics beat the Pistons convincingly twice in Detroit and the future seems perhaps a bit brighter in Boston.

The Pistons are just as capable of shooting themselves in the foot at home as anyone else in the NBA (in fact, they are some of the worst in the entire league), and it's very likely that Detroit will come out totally flat at some point and lose to the Celtics in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  The Pistons live and die by their jump shots and their ability to flip their competitive switch and simply turn on the intensity for any game.  When it works, they win tough games against elite opponents like they did last night and seem invincible.  When it doesn't, however (and it won't always), the Pistons are very vulnerable and become very beatable (see game one vs. Philly, 2007 Conference Finals v. Cleveland).

I'll admit that I'm nervous and that my stomach is in knots, but I haven't hit the panic button yet and neither should any other Celtics fan out there.  Hang tough, wait and see and talk to me after Saturday's game in Detroit, see you then.