Inside Men: Celtics Bigs Control Paint in Game 3

By Peter F. Stringer
Celtics.com
May 24, 2008

AUBURN HILLS, MI -- When they weren't busy stuffing the ball through the rim, the Boston Celtics were tearing the ball off of it Saturday night, dominating the interior, wiping the glass clean and blowing the Detroit Pistons off their own court in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 94-80, to take a 2-1 lead.

Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins combined for 23 rebounds, 34 points and nearly outrebounded the entire Pistons team by themselves -- the Celtics had 44 to Detroit's 28 -- and as the Celtics took control of the inside early, the Pistons fell behind just as quickly.

"Doc had been mentioning to us about just being active. They double on Paul, they're going to double on KG," Perkins said. "I've just got to make myself available, and when I catch the ball, just got to make sure I finish and dunk."

On Thursday in Boston, the Pistons took their chances by leaving Perkins to bring their double teams. The strategy backfired Saturday as Perkins scored inside with ease thanks to renewed ball movement and a better understanding of the Detroit scheme.

"We had a lot of energy sucked out of us when we were missing some shots and we had a lot of defensive breakdowns in our coverages," Flip Saunders said afterward. "When you're not scoring and playing transition defense all the time, you have a tough time getting your defensive set up, and they took advantage."

Set up or not, the Pistons' defense has been somewhat cavalier (small "C") about leaving Perkins and point guard Rajon Rondo open. Saunders said that in Game 2 the Pistons "choked off" the Celtics' role players while Garnett, Pierce and Allen combined for 75 points. The strategy worked and Detroit stole home court advantage from the Celtics with a road win.

But Rivers, sensing an Achilles' heel, looked to his role players to play a bigger part.

"Last game they basically ran off Rajon and ran off Perk. So today that's what we did," Rivers said. "We really showed him on film first, where they were coming from, and we basically told him that they would have to be active and aggressive to the basket, and it was going to be very important because the more they did that, the more Ray would be open, the more Paul would be open, the more Kevin would be open."

Open guys were in no short supply, and they usually found themselves with dunks, layups or tip-ins. So by moving the ball and scoring on dunks and layups while the Pistons were settling for tough midrange jumpers, the Celtics built a quick lead, jumping out 11-0 to start the game, and building an eventual 24-point lead that the Pistons could never eliminate.

Garnett (22 points, 13 rebounds and six assists) led the way on the court with a gaudy box score, but he led the team behind the scenes by getting dialed in early, something that Perkins says the team sees and then emulates.

"You know, how he comes to the games, man, he's so locked in that you look at him, and instantly you get locked in. I mean, that's how much he [is] focused before the game," Perkins said.

"I just feel like, man, you just never know how valuable KG is until you play with him. "

Playing alongside Garnett has done wonders for Perkins' offensive game. With KG drawing attention from both sides of the paint, Perkins is often left to duck in, catch the basketball and slam it home. While his process of catching, gathering and dunking has been a work in progress for some time, Perkins is gradually learning to finish faster -- and more reliably -- at the basket when the ball finds him.

One of the by-products was a 34-24 advantage in points in the paint, a stat that can be misleading if you think of it as all low-post offense. Garnett certainly did score on the block, but more than looking to score, Garnett just looked to make plays, and despite two cheap fouls in the first quarter that sidelined him quick, he managed to do plenty of damage in the 35 minutes he did go tonight.

And when he got himself going, he took Perkins with him.

"The thing for a big man is when you get an early basket or a dunk or something, you kind of get going. It makes you play both ends of the court, so you get a little confidence with your offense when you get an early basket," Perkins said. "I thought KG found me early, and I got an easy dunk, and that kind of got me going."

Considering the results, it's the Celtics, not the Pistons, running on all cylinders here in Detroit as Game 4 of the Conference Finals looms.