Pistons-Celtics Game 1 Recap: Rust or Rest?

Rust or rest seemed to be the dominant question regarding the Pistons play going into game 1 of the ECF against the mighty Boston Celtics, but the Pistons seemed more apathetic than anything else.

Plagued by uncharacteristic turnovers, inconsistent offensive performances, and a total lack of interest on defense, the Pistons let the Celtics win a game without putting up much resistance.

Late in the fourth quarter when the game was still undecided, the Pistons let Rondo hit an open 3 without anybody within five feet of him. This was symbolic of most of the night. While at times the Pistons seemed to have individual matchup advantages with Rasheed or Tayshaun, it was Antonio Mcdyess who was the most consistent shooter and he didn't even have that good of a game. Make no mistake, the referees let a lot of contact go until the fourth quarter and the Celtics absolutely capitalized, but the Pistons should be the team that lax officiating favors with their penchant for hard-nosed grind it out defense.

Instead, the Celtics rotations were far crisper and the Celtics played with more sense of purpose and urgency on defense. The Pistons predictably will not panic before game 2, but if they can not summon the fire and intensity necessary to match that of the Celtics', they will head home staring at an 0-2 hole.

Perhaps their heads have gotten too big from the success in round 2, but this is a team that plays much better defense and has many more reliable scoring options than Orlando.

They must look at game 2 as a must win or they risk allowing the exact same pattern play out in game 2, with Boston winning all of the hustle plays again and simply outworking Detroit to a victory. This would have been unheard of when they followed their mantra of "going to work", but lately the Pistons have been simply "showing up to work" more than anything else.

Adjustments for game 2:

- Don't double the ball handler and leave KG open for jump shots
- Find better ways to get the ball into Sheed in the post, maybe using a big to make the entry pass off of movement
- Make cleaner rotations on defense
- Don't turn the ball over on fast breaks
- Pay more attention to help defense coming over to steal the ball
- Establish Prince and Sheed in the post more
- Use Billups on Rondo for post-ups and pick and roll opportunities
- Defend Pierce tighter when he spins around and make him work more on defense
- Come out of the half with better intensity and emotion
- Hunter needs to stop picking up silly fouls

Frank Cao is the [not so] (because he does not have the editing power) better half of cocky and arrogant and is planning on going to Detroit for med school for the next four years to follow up on the Pistons...err learn medicine. His favorite teams are Michigan football, Detroit hockey and basketball.