Boston got past an old nemesis to set up a matchup with another rival.
Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Ray Allen had 17 and Kevin Garnett added
16 to lift the Celtics to an 89-81 victory over the Detroit Pistons on
Friday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Boston, which locked up with Detroit many times in the 1980s, will now
rekindle another classic series in the NBA finals against the Los
Angeles Lakers.
"It's kind of surreal," Garnett said.The Celtics are in the NBA finals for the first since losing to the Lakers in 1987, the third meeting in a four-year span. The
Pistons were eliminated on their home court for the first time during a
six-year run that included a trip to the conference finals each year
and the 2004 title. Boston entered the series without a road win
in the postseason, then beat Detroit on its home court twice to win the
grueling series. After playing two Game 7s, the Celtics will get a needed break before hosting Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Thursday night. "We're emotionally drained," Garnett said. Chauncey
Billups scored a playoff-high 29 points and Richard Hamilton had 21,
but the rest of their teammates had lackluster efforts - especially
Rasheed Wallace. At one point Billups had 21 points, matching the total for the rest of the team. Wallace
scored just four points on 2-of-12 shooting and had three turnovers in
what might've been his last game as a Piston and could've been Flip
Saunders' last as Detroit's coach. President of basketball operations
Joe Dumars will likely make some sort of changes on the bench, the
court or both. "I'm sure that's something Joe and I will sit down and evaluate," Saunders said. After
it was 58-all, Detroit closed the third quarter with a 10-2 run and
took its first lead since midway through the opening quarter. Just
when it seemed the Pistons might be in control with a 70-60 lead early
in the fourth, the Celtics scored nine points in less than 2 minutes
and went on a 19-4 run that put them ahead 79-74. Billups' three-point play pulled Detroit to 83-79 with 2:24 left, then the Pistons wasted a chance to get closer. Tayshaun
Prince grabbed a loose ball after a Boston miss and turned the ball
over when James Posey surprised him from behind and snatched it away. Pierce made two free throws on the possession, putting the Celtics up by six with 1 1/2 minutes to go. "It was the best fourth quarter we played all playoff long," Pierce said. The
Pistons failed on their 3-pointers down the stretch and couldn't take
advantage of Garnett missing two free throws with 36 seconds left. SOURCE:FOX SPORTS ON MSN.COM