After Retaking Home Court, Celtics Get Greedy

By Peter F. Stringer
Celtics.com
May 25, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, MI - Suburban Detroit is lovely this time of year. But the Celtics would prefer not to come back next week.

In retrospect, perhaps finally losing Game 2 at the Garden was the best thing that could have happened to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Suddenly, without the comfort of home court advantage, the Celtics faced some clear and present danger in Detroit Saturday night, knowing that a loss in Game 3 would put them behind the Pistons and force them to play some serious catch-up over the last four games of a series that would probably go seven games.

It's one thing to go on the road with a two game cushion in a series. It's quite another to come to Detroit tied 1-1 and face the prospect of heading home with a 3-1 deficit.

But the Celtics jumped on a flat Pistons team early with an 11-0 run to start the game, and after a 94-80 win at the Palace of Auburn Hills that finds them up 2-1 in the series, the Celtics are getting greedy. Unsatisfied with regaining home court, the Celtics are set on stealing Game 4 as well and putting the Pistons in a landfill-sized hole.

Captain Paul Pierce told reporters that the Celtics don't want to return to Detroit next week.

"We got a road win, which is good, but hey, we want to try to get another one," Pierce said after Sunday afternoon's walkthrough at the Celtics' team hotel. "They played well in our building so we can't take this opportunity for granted. We've got to go out there and try to win Game 4."

Complacency, however, is not an option.

"It's not a win one and be happy type of thing," forward Kevin Garnett said, calling Game 4 a challenge and Sunday a "fix day". Rather than running through a full-on practice at a local high per the trip itinerary, the team opted to watch film and then stage a walkthrough in a hotel ballroom to prepare for Monday's Game 4.

"You take it one game at a time, one day at a time, one place at a time," Garnett said. "We have to fix what we didn't do right in the last game and try to do it better the next game." Veterans of six straight Conference Finals series, The Pistons certainly grasp the reversal of fortune that occurred Saturday night.

"It's a game that we've got to get," Pistons guard Richard Hamilton said on Sunday of Game 4. "We just said that we wasted an opportunity going to Boston and playing the way that we've been playing and then coming out, and playing in front of our home crowd and not getting it done."

Hamilton pointed out that the Pistons lost in games when the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic jumped out to early leads in the playoffs, so they have to avoid spotting the Celtics another early advantage. Still, while Hamilton said his team was frustrated by the Game 3 loss, he wouldn't characterize his team as "desperate." They know they can win in Boston thanks to Game 2.

So with both teams having won in the other's gym, the home court's is quickly being trumped by X's and O's, aggression and adjustments.

"We just spent an hour in film session showing that we definitely don't want to settle after last night's win," Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo said. "We want to continue to get better and just continue to execute and make adjustments, and I'm sure they're going to make adjustments, as well."

If the on-court adjustments work out, perhaps the Celtics can adjust their travel plans as well. They'd like nothing more than to win Monday night, return home and close out the series Wednesday.

Then they can cancel Thursday's jet to Detroit.