Pistons Pathetic and Too Much Cox For Chinese Taipei

Rahnee Cox and the Opals sweep Chinese Taipei

A few days ago I wrote how I believed that the Detroit Pistons will take care of the Boston Celtics in this series. How wrong I was? The Celtics ran away with an easy 94-80 win today to take a 2-1 lead.

It was one of the most complete team efforts (outside the San Antonio Spurs) I have seen from an NBA team in quite some time. Kevin Garnett had a strong all round game (22pts, 13rebs, 6ass) to be the Men in Greens best.

To go along with Garnett's performance, 5 other Celtics cracked double figure points. I would never have thought the Celts would have been able to win comfortably with Paul Pierce pulling the trigger just six times but with solid contributions from many he is afforded a slow night.

For the Pistons is was Rip Hamilton trying to keep the home team in the game. He had a game high 26, but he had only two other teammates in double figures.

The Pistons would be happy with rookie Rodney Stuckey's play (17pts, 4ass, 4 stls) but Chauncey Billups is who they need to ride at this point of the season. Stuckey needs to keep being that spark off the bench while Billups has to lead from the front.

I have never doubted the Celtics defence and if they continue to share the offense as they did today, I will end up with egg all over my face.

Check out Chris Sheridan's (No relation to my teammate Brad, but they do share the same hairline.) Daily Dime.

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Congrats to the Brisbane Bullets for going up the Torres Strait and working with the children there. It must have been a buzz for both the Bullets and the Torres Strait people. The children would have loved getting some tips from the sporting superstars that visited. While the visitors would have seen a piece of this great country that not all of us get to see. You can invite me any time Brian/Joey.

Kiwi's are supporting their local league.

The Australian Opals have been conducting a clinic on the NSW Central Coast over the past week. The lucky recipient has not been kids from the local area but the Chinese Taipei National Team.

The Opals handed the visitors a 3-0 series sweep, with none of the scorelines very flattering to the opposition. Click here for a write up and boxscore of all three games.

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Sheed needs to stay focused if the Pistons are to advance.

The Eastern Conference final sees the #1 seed Boston Celtics take on #2 Detroit Pistons. The Celtics have already survived two seven game series, so do they have enough left in the tank?

The Pistons have been there, done that before, so it is business as normal. As for the Celtics they have had to expend a lot of energy to get passed Atlanta and Cleveland so the physical Pistons will only put more wear on their already used tyres.

Let's take a deeper look as to who I think will win the series and advance to the NBA Finals.

The Pistons success in this series will sit squarely on the attitude of Rasheed Wallace. Wallace is one of the most talented players in the NBA at both ends of the floor but if he manages to get sidetracked he becomes detrimental to his own team.

The Wallace/Kevin Garnett (Celtics) matchup is going to be a cracka to watch. Each player has the ability to take the other out of their respective comfort zone. Wallace can defend Garnett down low and challenge his array of fake aways, while Garnett has the tools to play Wallace on the perimeter, especially when the Pistons go to their pick and pop offense.

As for the backcourt matchup, someone needs to wake up Ray Allen from his deep sleep if the Celtics are to be at all competitive in this series. To date Allen has just been plain disappointing in the playoffs.

You can argue that the championship winning Pistons backcourt of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton is the best in the league so Allen and Rajan Rondo better come ready to play. It is key that Rondo makes Billups play at both ends of the floor. Rondo will do his best to make Billups earn everything he gets at the offensive end, but on the flipside, Rondo better stay active on "O" so Mr Big Shot cannot rest.

I feel Allen will come alive in this series because he will have to chase Hamilton around on "D" so he should naturally be more involved in the game. Plus I'm sure he is feeling this is his chance to amend a poor display to date.

Paul Pierce needs to have a huge scoring series for the Celtics but this will be difficult as Tayshaun Prince will love the challenge of locking him down. I feel Pierce is the only guy on the Celtics that can consistently produce offense by his own means. You need this factor when it becomes a grinding style of game.

James Posey is going to be a key player off the bench for the Celtics. His defensive prowess will be required to harass Hamilton and/or Billups while his three point shooting will need to be on target to keep the Pistons defense stretched.

On the other side the Pistons have been getting great service out of rookie Rodney Stuckey and Jason Maxiell throughout the playoffs. Stuckey gained valuable experience in the last two games that Billups missed through injury. Look for these two young promising players to bring some energy of the bench.

The benches for both teams will have their moments but this series is going to come down to which team's "Money Men" come up bigger.

There is no doubt in my mind that Ray Allen will bust out of his slump, but I'm not betting against Chauncey in this situation. Pistons in six.

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Joe Ingles puts his NBA dream on hold while he chases his Olympic dream. This would be a tough decision to make when you are young. In Joe's case he still has next year for the NBA draft. I hope Joe knows best and if he does, he might just have his cake and eat it to. Ah, to have options!

36ers coach Scott Ninnis is still hopeful Julius Hodge is his man but in the meantime he is looking at other players. I just hope he is not watching his highlight tape and thinking of making a comeback.

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