It’s Back

Why no posts lately? No vitriol. New England is the center of the sports universe. It is like every Bob Marley song came true and a blissful utopia emerged. Baseball is still 7 weeks away, the Celtics have only three losses and the Pats went 16-0 during the regular season. With the Pats enjoying the Playoff bye, the C’s have taken center stage. Then I found it.

In the late 1980’s I was coming into my own. I discovered professional sports and rap music in 1987 and two things became clear to me. The first was that my relationship with the police was forever altered by Public Enemy. The second was that I was convinced the Detroit Pistons were Satan’s favorite basketball team. They played anti-basketball.

Now that the Celtics are climbing to the top of the NBA Mountain the Pistons have quickly become a focus of tension for me. A handful of years ago a new look Pistons squad revitalized the Eastern Conference with a very team orientated style of play. It helped that Rip Hamilton was traded to Detroit and became a fixture. However, under the surface a general dislike bubbled. There is also another irrefutable fact, Detroit is Detroit, whether it is 1987 or 2004, or 2008.

The rise of the Celtics led to a great game last month that the Pistons won on a savvy play by former Celtic Chauncey Billups with under 1 second left, nullifying a great Celtics comeback. Thus, Saturday night’s game at the Palace should be a good one. Look for Rajon Rondo to actually be playing late in the 4th quarter. I think Doc is more confident in the lad’s play recently. The Pistons versatility trumps the C’s, but not if Doc decides to extend the bench to include Davis, Scal, and Leon Powe to wear down the Wallace, J-Max, Delfino combination. I think this is a game Planet Pollard should see 7 minutes of play and foul out. If the C’s turn it into a slugfest, and Ray Allen can rebound from a horrid Friday night, I actually think the Celtics can prevail because they have more shooters. The Truth, the Allen’s, House, Posey, and Scal butcher the Pistons from down town. Like the Pats, the C’s are a finesse team that can win really ugly. It is the mark of a truly good team. With that said, Doc will probably want Rondo to push the ball and run the Pistons ragged. Ray Allen is the X Factor, as is coming out of halftime with some fire. It killed us last month.

Enjoy the game. It should be fun, if not an opportunity to start really hating the Pistons again.

Strength and Honor