But this current crew of Boston Celtics is making the TD Banknorth Garden look a lot like the old haunt during this current playoff run. Boston improved to 9-0 on its home floor by beating Detroit, 88-79, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.
Thank goodness the Celtics finished a league-best 66-16 this year. That home-court advantage is the only thing keeping Boston alive right now, because this team has forgotten how to win on the road for some reason. The court is still 94x50 and the ball is still orange, but something about being in Atlanta or Cleveland has put the Celtics out of kilter.
Still, just tell Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to make their way to Causeway Street and everything will be fine. Seven more home wins will bring Boston Banner 17, extending its lead over the Los Angeles Lakers (14) for the most championships in NBA history. Three more wins will make me a 6-year-old kid again and take me back to the last time the Celtics won the title, a six-game victory over the Houston Rockets while the real Big Three were all in their respective primes.
Let's just hope that Chauncey Billups' hamstring is feeling as bad as Billups looked in Game 1. His match-up with Rajon Rondo is the one glaring edge that Detroit had coming into this series, but Billups sat out the final two games against Orlando in the semifinals and was slow and stiff on Tuesday, allowing Rondo to run wild with 11 points, seven assists and five steals. Rondo scored seven points in the fourth quarter and Billups was limited to 30 minutes, a good sign if Boston is going to impose its will on the Pistons' offense. Billups' penetration, foul shooting and
Garnett and Pierce, meanwhile, have seemed to find some good chemistry over the last three games. Rondo's ability to get into the lane has opened up the floor for both players, and with Ray Allen missing in action, Garnett and Pierce have taken up the bulk of the scoring. Garnett poured in a game-high 26 points, dominating in the lane and hitting his mid-range jumper consistently, and Pierce dropped in 22 with another aggressive performance.
Can this trend continue? The percentages say that Boston will eventually have to win one or two road games in the next two rounds against the Pistons and, potentially, the Lakers or the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs just pulled off a rare road win in Game 7 to finish off the upstart New Orleans Hornets, a win that should be feared by all three remaining teams that are looking to end San Antonio's reign. The Spurs would have to win in Boston for that to happen, and some of the old ghosts buried in the old Garden rubble under the player's parking lot might just sneak into Game 7 if they need to. The Celtics used to win those types of games all the time, usually in unlikely fashion. Such a win would make the rest of New England smile like a bunch of 6-year-olds again, just like I would be.
