There are a million reasons why the Celtics lost tonight's game, but in the end, the Pistons simply made more plays. The C's rallied and cut an 11 point lead to 2, but two offensive rebounds and subsequent scores in the final few minutes gave the Pistons enough breathing room. Other observations:
-The Celtics got very little production (7 pts) from the bench. And you can't blame Doc for trying, he played 6 guys including Tony Allen. Meanwhile Rodney Stucky (13 pts) had some big buckets for the Pistons.
-We finally saw the real Ray Allen (25 pts, 9-16 FG, 2-4 3FG).
-Rajon Rondo (10 pts, 9 reb, 8 asst, 3 stls) had a solid all around game. But the C's need him to be more aggressive offensively. When his defender leaves him, Rondo needs to take the shot. All this dribbling in and out of the paint just winds down the shot clock and forces other guys to rush shots.
-Paul Pierce (26 pts) played 47 minutes. He's hoping he can keep up that pace.
-Rip Hamilton (25 pts) was at his best tonight. With that said, I still think he plays like a bitch.
-Antonio McDyess (15 pts)vcontinues to hit those open 17-foot jumpers. At some point the C's will realize they can't leave him alone.
-The dumbest play of the night was Rondo's face guarding foul on Tayshaun Prince. Rondo litterly placed his hand on Prince's face.
To be honest, I'm not worried. The Celtics will win one of the next two games in Detroit. As we used to say back in the hood, I'll bet my left nut on it.
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