How we see it goin’ down: Cs vs Pistons

Tip: 6pm    Court: TD Garden    Watch it:  CSN    Hear it:  WEEI

Referees: Greg Willard, Pat Fraher, Derek Richardson

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The Matchup

Record: 52-23 (1st Atlantic, 3rd East)	Record: 26-49 (4th Central, 11th East)
At home: 29-8	On road: 7-30
Streak: Lost 1	Streak: Lost 2
Leaders	Leaders
Buckets: Pierce (18.8 ppg)	Buckets: Rodney Stuckey (14.7 ppg)
Boards: KG (9.0 rpg)	Boards: Greg Monroe (7.3 rpg)
Dimes: Rondo (11.2 apg)	Dimes: Stuckey (4.8 apg)
For the Stat Geeks:	For the Stat Geeks:
Offensive Rating: 106.4 (18th NBA)	Offensive Rating: 107.0 (16th NBA)
Defensive Rating: 100.2 (1st NBA)	Defensive Rating: 111.6 (28th NBA)
Pace: 90.4 (23rd NBA)	Pace: 88.9 (28th NBA)

Last time

The Celtics edged Detroit 86-82 back in January behind 22-points from Paul Pierce and a double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) from Shaq. The Pistons led by 8 midway through the 4th, but the Celtics ended the game on a 19-7 run. Boston leads the season series 2-1.

This time

Get it to:  Paul Pierce

He's torched Detroit this season: 25.3 ppg, 61% FG.

Gotta stop: Richard Hamilton

Despite his feud with coach John Kuester, Rip Hamilton is back to playing regular minutes for the Pistons. Over his last 10 games, he's averaging 19.9 ppg while shooting 49% FG.

The Wild Card: Ray Allen

He's gotta break out of this slump (39% FG over last 10 games) at some point, right? But Ray hasn't done much against Detroit this year: 11.7 ppg, 40%FG. Maybe the sight of his UConn rival will get his juices flowing again. 

How we see it goin' down

It's been about two weeks since the Celtics have whooped ass on their home court (3/16 vs IND). I'm expecting a double-digit lead by half-time which reaches 20 points at some point in the 2nd half. Call it a gut feeling. Celtics take it 103 – 89.