NBA Playoffs: Celtics vs. Pistons - Game 5

Although Detroit played a great game, Boston defended their home court with a close win in Game 5, 106-102, putting them up 3-2 in the series. It was by far the best offensive game for both teams where it came down to the free throws and clutch shooting of Ray Allen at the end of the game to put the Celtics one win away from the NBA Finals.

I said that if the Celtics were going to win Game 5, Allen had to find his shot again and each of the players in the Boston PGA (Pierce, Garnett, Allen) Tour had to put up big numbers to beat the Pistons. Well Allen definitely got out of his shooting slump scoring 29 points, shooting 9-15 (60%) from the field and the Boston PGA Tour did their share (Garnett 33, Pierce 16) as they scored 78 of the Celtics' 106 total points.

I also said if the Pistons were going to win Game 5, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Detroit's bench had to play their best game to beat Boston on the road. Billups did have his best game of the series with 26 points and Rodney Stuckey scored 13 points off the bench, but Jason Maxiell (6 points) did not follow up to his impressive performance in Game 4 and once again Prince did not play a good game with scoring just 8 points.

This is Detroit's sixth time in franchise history that the Pistons have been down 3-2 going into Game 6 in the Eastern Conference Finals, and they have only come back to win a series once. So if history repeats itself, the Celtics will be seeing the Lakers or the Spurs at home on June 5th and Detroit's season will be over after Game 6 for the third straight year coming so close to the NBA Finals. Detroit will not win 2 games in a row against Boston and now that Allen has found his shot, it looks like Detroit is finished even if they win at home in Game 6. I don't think that Prince is going to come out of his shell in this series and now that Detroit's leading scorer, Richard Hamilton may not play in Game 6 with an injured right elbow (shooting hand), I don't see the Piston's winning this series.

The 3 veterans in the Boston PGA Tour will not let themselves lose the last 2 games because they know they are one win away from getting to the NBA Finals and have a chance for the first time in their careers to becoming World Champions. I'll just say it ahead of time, the Boston Celtics will be the Eastern Conference Finals Champions very soon.