The Detroit Pistons will welcome the Boston Celtics into Little Caesar’s Arena tonight for one of the biggest regular-season games in the last decade.
Something has to give, as both teams are riding win streaks, six for Boston and seven for Detroit, so someone is going to walk away from this game with their first L in over two weeks.
The Pistons are the surprise team of the Eastern Conference and the Celtics are the defending champs who are frontrunners to get there again, so this is a huge test for the Pistons, many of whom have not played in this kind of big-game atmosphere.
This game will have playoff vibe, so is a great test for the Pistons, especially considering Boston has already beaten them three times this season, twice by double digits.
This isn’t the first time the Pistons have had to overcome the Boston hurdle.
Detroit lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1986-87, which was famous for “The Steal” which still makes me sick to this day.
Detroit got their revenge the very next season in another seven-game series, but this time, they came out on top. They swept Boston in the first round the year after that, essentially putting the nail in the coffin of that particular team.
The situations aren’t exactly the same, but we once again have a Detroit team on the rise that will have to go through a Boston juggernaut to get to the top of the East.
Hopefully, we will look back on this matchup as the beginning of a changing of the guard, like it was back then. The biggest difference is this Boston team isn’t old, but if the Pistons want to eventually rule the East again, they will have to go through the Celtics.
Pistons injuries vs. Celtics: Who is going to play?
Boston sat several players last night against the Raptors in preparation for this game and won anyway, which shows just how deep their roster is.
Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Drew Peterson, Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet were all out last night for various reasons, but I would bet on most or all of them returning tonight in Detroit on the second game of a back-to-back.
The Pistons are still missing Jaden Ivey and Simone Fontecchio has been upgraded to questionable tonight in the Motor City.
Keys to the game for the Pistons
Stopping Boston is no easy feat, as they have one of the best and most well-rounded offenses in the league.
The Pistons have to try and speed the game up, run off every miss and stop and make Boston keep up. The Celtics shoot a ton of 3’s, which often lead to long rebounds, so the Pistons need to secure those and get out in transition.
This will get the crowd in it early and hopefully allow the Pistons to have some big scoring runs. Boston is on short rest, so the Pistons have to try and take advantage of that.
The second key is not allowing the Boston bigs to shoot uncontested 3-point shots all night. Porzingis and Horford can obviously hit them, and have torched the Pistons in the past, so this will be a test for the Pistons’ bigs, particularly Jalen Duren, who has struggled against stretch fives this season.
LCA is going to be packed tonight and hopefully create a real home-court advantage for Detroit, but they have to play under control and maintain their poise, which will be a great test for their young guys.
How to watch Pistons vs. Celtics
If you are like me, you'll be watching this while pacing around the house, vacillating between cursing, praying and other acts of superstition that I dare not admit publicly. Here in Ireland, I'll be watching the game on League Pass (trying not to wake up the neighborhood), but you can watch on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit or listen on 97.1 FM The Ticket.
There are multiple streaming options, including Amazon Prime, which you can find here.
There's nothing left to say but, LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO!