Pistons Find out the Hard Way that Celtics Can Win on the Road

You can forget the notion that The Boston Celtics can’t win on the road. After suffering their first home loss of the playoffs in Game Two, the Celtics bounced back and did it with authority in their 94-80 victory at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Kevin Garnett scored 22 points after getting in early foul trouble in the first five minutes of the game. The Celtics got off to an 11-0 lead to start off the game, but the Pistons did their best to take the lead 17-15 with less than two minutes left in the first quarter. Detroit never led again.

Detroit, who were down by as much as 24 points, lost the game despite 16 Boston turnovers, Garnett and Allen in foul trouble and Paul Pierce scoring just 11 points. The Pistons couldn’t get a shot to fall shooting just 38% on the night and going a miserable 1-13 from behind the arc.

Boston held Detroit to a playoff low of just 32 first half points.

Chauncey Billups struggled going just 1-for-6 shooting with 6 points, 4 assists and 2 turnovers in 26 minutes. Tayshaun Prince had a rough time too putting up just 4 points on 2-11 shooting.

Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 26 points, but it was the play of the rookie Rodney Stuckey that stood out. Rodney clearly outplayed and outhustled his counterpart Billups. Stuckey, for the most part was responsible for Detroit’s late third quarter, early fourth quarter push. Stuckey finished with 17 points, 4 steals 4 assists and a blocked shot in 28 minutes.

 Detroit is now in a familiar position, in the hole. With Boston taking Game Three the Pistons are looking at a must-win game on Monday. The series is at 2-1, but if Detroit doesn’t win Game Four and tie the series up again, their Finals hopes will look grim. Boston wanted it bad and you could tell from the tip. The Pistons are known to play well with their backs against the wall. We will soon see if it holds true.



[top image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjo59/]