Pistons (78) Cetics (90)

[Box score] I’m trying to decide if it was a tired Pistons team after playing catchup the night before on the heels of a four game road trip or just a bad matchup?

In all three of the games against Boston the Celtics have had someone who’s not their big three step up and hurt the Pistons. On the first game it was Rondo, the second Glen Davis, and last night the Pistons had no answer for Kendrick Perkins (10 pts, 20 rbs, 2 blks). Sure Kevin Garnett hurt us as well (31 pts, 6 rbs) but you can live with that if Allen & Pierce combine for 18 points.

It seems as if the Pistons have a hard time with keeping the Celtics from scoring in the paint. The Celtics slashing-and-kick resulted in too many easy buckets.

It was frustrating to watch us play from behind the whole game. I give credit to the Celtics’ defense once again for disrupting what our guys wanted to do offensively. Their trapping D really seemed to bother the ‘Stonz. The offense had no flow. I was watching this game with a friend and I told him after the game ended that I’d be shocked if we had more than 15 assists, we had 16 but I’m must of lied because I wasn’t all that shocked.

The “Zoo Crew” really didn’t show up. I knew coming in that this was going to be a game for the starters to win, but we need SOMETHING from the 2nd unit. Stuckey scored 2, and Dixon 3. Five bench points? What’s up lately with Jason Maxiell? Maxy had 0 points, 2 boards, 0 blocks on 18 minutes. I would have liked to seen more Amir Johnson. Amir made an immediate impact when he got in the game with a couple of blocks and boards. I also would have liked to see Arron Afflalo for his defense, hustle, and poise.

I’m trying not to overreact too much, but it’s hard when I hate the Celtics so much. I know we’re a playoff team, but we can’t wait until then to solve our struggles with Boston and I figure they’re going to be better with Cassell. As much as I don’t like Sam I’ll admit he’s a gamer.

I still feel we’re a better team, but we haven’t prepared well enough for Boston’s personnel. Seems like we’ve paid very little attention to anyone not named Garnett, Pierce, or Allen and it’s come back to bite us.