Celtics D - better suited to Pistons?

[TheRev72]

I'm wondering if the Celtics defense is going to be more effective against the Pistons than against the Hawks or Cavs because there is no glaring need to double one guy.  The Celtics can simply stick to their normal defensive rotations.  The only guy who could really kill us is Chauncey, and he's clearly still hobbling.

[Donoghus]

I think you see two teams in the ECF that are very complimentary of each other.  Key factor being they're both teams but even some of the players sorta mirror each other.

No alpha dogs to bust your tail on defense like Lebron and the level of athleticism isn't at the point where it exploits some defensive weaknesses.  So from a defensive standpoint, I do think that the Celtics D is better suited to the Pistons as opposed to Atlanta and Cleveland. 

[Who]

Yes

I said the same thing months ago. Back at the start of the season. During the season too. Cleveland were the biggest threat because they were able to take Boston out of their regular game. New defense, struggles on offense because of their bigs, rebounding, Bron. That alone would give them a fighters chance, in fact I thought it gave them a win until they made that midseason trade when they gave away so much perimeter defense and the superior Drew Gooden, that made them vulnerable.

Detroit can't do that. Celtics can play their game and Boston simply have more talent. It's a fine matchup for Boston. They should win.

[MattG12]

I'm wondering if the Celtics defense is going to be more effective against the Pistons than against the Hawks or Cavs because there is no glaring need to double one guy.  The Celtics can simply stick to their normal defensive rotations.  The only guy who could really kill us is Chauncey, and he's clearly still hobbling.

Chauncey has said if this were the regular season he would not be playing right now. I think the fact that he isn't 100% is immense. The Celtics definitely will be able to relax a lot more on D this series, which will hopefully open up the offense more for Ray Allen, and Rondo, as it already has for Pierce. I think this series should be quicker than the last 2. C's in 5 or 6. Their two regular season wins over Detroit Allen was ineffective anyways (poor shooting one night, foul trouble the other night) so we can win this series without him heating up.

[liam]

We match up very well with the Pistons. There defense is not as tough as the Cavs. The Pistons live off of other teams mistakes and turnovers. If you don't give them the game they have a hard time taking it from you.

[BballTim]

Yes

I said the same thing months ago. Back at the start of the season. During the season too. Cleveland were the biggest threat because they were able to take Boston out of their regular game. New defense, struggles on offense because of their bigs, rebounding, Bron. That alone would give them a fighters chance, in fact I thought it gave them a win until they made that midseason trade when they gave away so much perimeter defense and the superior Drew Gooden, that made them vulnerable.

Detroit can't do that. Celtics can play their game and Boston simply have more talent. It's a fine matchup for Boston. They should win.

  Oddly enough, Wallace, West, Wally and Smith all came up big for the Cavs. The trade didn't hurt them that much against us.

[Who]

Yes

I said the same thing months ago. Back at the start of the season. During the season too. Cleveland were the biggest threat because they were able to take Boston out of their regular game. New defense, struggles on offense because of their bigs, rebounding, Bron. That alone would give them a fighters chance, in fact I thought it gave them a win until they made that midseason trade when they gave away so much perimeter defense and the superior Drew Gooden, that made them vulnerable.

Detroit can't do that. Celtics can play their game and Boston simply have more talent. It's a fine matchup for Boston. They should win.

  Oddly enough, Wallace, West, Wally and Smith all came up big for the Cavs. The trade didn't hurt them that much against us.

I know, that surprised the heck out of me. I didn't expect that after their mid-season trade. Gotta give Mike Brown a huge amount of credit teaching them their team D. That changed my thinking in a huge way, I didn't think that was even possible. After seeing them against Washington I thought the Bos-Cle series would go 7.

West was quality. Although Rondo still was able to beat him off the dribble when he so wished, Rondo just didn't do it well enough. Wally was so-so offensively, truly excellent defense on Ray which made changed the whole balance of the series. Wally was very good. Wouldn't give Wallace much credit though. I thought he was very poor, KG just didn't attack him often enough to take full advantage. The downgrade from him to Gooden was very big.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Yes

I said the same thing months ago. Back at the start of the season. During the season too. Cleveland were the biggest threat because they were able to take Boston out of their regular game. New defense, struggles on offense because of their bigs, rebounding, Bron. That alone would give them a fighters chance, in fact I thought it gave them a win until they made that midseason trade when they gave away so much perimeter defense and the superior Drew Gooden, that made them vulnerable.

Detroit can't do that. Celtics can play their game and Boston simply have more talent. It's a fine matchup for Boston. They should win.

  Oddly enough, Wallace, West, Wally and Smith all came up big for the Cavs. The trade didn't hurt them that much against us.

I'm with you here... I myself have been always one of those that though the trade was great for the Cavs. With that said, I really didn't envision their defense bothering us as much as it did. Mike Brown is a defensive genius in his own right.

[Chris]

I'm wondering if the Celtics defense is going to be more effective against the Pistons than against the Hawks or Cavs because there is no glaring need to double one guy.  The Celtics can simply stick to their normal defensive rotations.  The only guy who could really kill us is Chauncey, and he's clearly still hobbling.

I actually think the C's defense is more suited for stopping a single guy, and can be defeated most easily by a team that moves the ball around, and have multiple guys who can kill you.  This is a big reason why the C's couldn't blow them out last night.  The C's were playing GREAT, but they just couldn't open the gap, mainly because Detroit was always able to make that extra pass, and get the open shot (the free throws didnt hurt either of course)

On the other hand, I think the C's offense matches up well with the Pistons defense.  The C's move the ball well, but also have good individual matchups.

Because of this, I expect this to be a close, but high scoring series.  The Pistons will score more than they did last night (they missed some wide open shots), and the C's will continue to score more as well.

[Celtic]

I think the Pistons are now facing the same situation the Celtics faced with Lebron, in Paul Pierce. The difference is the Pistons don't have the personnel to play a successful team defensive scheme, and can't play him one on one since the C's have so many more weapons of varied styles than Cleveland has.

On the flip side for the C's on defense, I feel like there is no one on Detroit that requires a double team, especially with Billups not being 100%, and this creates a much easier situation for the Celtics on defense.