Pistons play the Celtics tomorrow for the crown of the Eastern Conference. Who do I think will win? Total Toss up, both are very good teams. But, one thing I do know is that the NBA playoffs is all about matchups, so lets look at the matchups.
PG: Chauncey Billups/Rodney Stuckey v. Rajon Rondo/Sam Cassell. Cassell is old, and hasnt made a shot since game 2 of the Eastern Conference semis. I imagine that Cassell will get one more change, but if he continues to show his age and struggle, Eddie House will be backing up Rondo. Billups has an enormous size advantage over Rondo. Rondo may be quicker than the gimpy Billups, but if they can exploit the size advantage here to create opportunites for players like Rasheed, Rip and Tay the Pistons have a great change. I think this series starts and ends with exploiting this matchup on the offensive end. Have Billups post up Rondo and have other players cutting towards the basket when Garnett or Pierce attempts to help Rondo; this should create easy layups and points.
SG: Rip v. Ray Allen. Allen looks lost out there. He hasn't hit a three in a while, which is his bread and butter. However, a great shooter like Allen could "wake up" at anytime or get hot. The Pistons are generally very good perimeter defenders and hopefully have learned their lesson of the importance of defending the three from losing 1 game big to Orlando. On the other side, Ray Allen cannot keep up with Rip. He is not a good defender around screens. I expect Rip to see a lot of open shots and hopefully continue his great play from the Orlando series.
SF: Tay v. Paul Pierce. Quite possibly the most important and worst matchup for the Pistons. Pierce is an underrated defender. He may cause Tay a few problems. However, on offense I think his length will annoy and cause problems for Pierce to defend. On the other end, Pierce is a tough matchup for Tay. Prince is a great defender, but Pierce is quick off the dribble and can shoot from anywhere on the court. He has been inconsistent, especially on the road, and if he can be contained, Boston is in trouble.
PF/C - Rasheed, McDyess v. Perkins, Garnett. Garnett is one of the best rebounders in the game. Rasheed, McDyess and Maxiel are all great rebounders. This battle of the boards is really all that matters to me. Garnett is going to get 20 points somehow. And the Pistons big men will get their shots. The key here is to win the battle on the boards, limit the offensive rebounds and create second opportunities for us.
I really can't pick a winner here. If the Pistons had home court, it would be a different story. Also, the NBA will likely try to "fix" the finals to be Boston-LA. Boston is just really tough to beat at home. I am very excited about this series as it may be the best so far in the playoffs. Sorry for my indecision, leave your predictions in the comments
Celtics - Pistons: Matchup by Matchup
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1 comments:
if ray allen decides to lace up his sneakers and play a little basketball, the pistons are in trouble. the one thing that i think we'll see in this series is kg being more of a scorer. we was too giving against the cavs. let's face it, the cavs have just lebron. kg could have scored 45 every night. i think they will center the offense around him this series
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