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Boston Celtics (2-1, 10-7) at Detroit Pistons (1-2, 9-5)
Eastern Conference Finals Game 4
Monday, May 26
8:30 PM ET
TV: ESPN
The Palace of Auburn Hills Probable Starting Lineup PG: Rajon Rondo PPG 11.1 RPG 4.20 APG 6.6 EFF + 15.76
SG: Ray Allen PPG 13.3 RPG 3.40 APG 2.9 EFF + 12.06
SF: Paul Pierce PPG 18.9 RPG 4.80 APG 4.2 EFF + 16.82
PF: Kevin Garnett PPG 20.9 RPG 10.20 APG 3.5 EFF + 26.76
C: Kendrick Perkins PPG 6.4 RPG 6.20 APG 0.6 EFF + 11.24
Off the Bench: Eddie House, James Posey, Leon Powe, Big Baby Davis, Tony Allen, PJ Brown, Sam Cassell
Injuries Scott Pollard, ankle, out
InactiveBrian Scalabrine, Gabe Pruitt
Probable Starting Lineup PG: Chauncey Billups PPG 14.7 RPG 2.80 APG 5.3 EFF + 15.08
SG: Rip Hamilton PPG 21.6 RPG 4.60 APG 3.6 EFF + 18.50
SF: Tayshaun Prince PPG 16.0 RPG 6.20 APG 3.4 EFF + 19.00
PF: Antonio McDyess PPG 8.6 RPG 7.10 APG 0.9 EFF + 13.14
C: Rasheed Wallace PPG 13.5 RPG 6.40 APG 1.8 EFF + 15.07
Off the Bench Jason Maxiel, Arron Afflalo, Linsdey Hunter, Jarvis Hayes, Walter Hermann, Rodney Stuckey, Theo Ratiliff, Juan Dixon
InjuriesNone
InactiveJuan Dixon, Cheikh Samb, Walter Hermann
Key Matchups vs
Rajon Rondo vs Chauncey Billups
In the games the Celtics have won in this series, Rondo has out played Billups and in the game they lost, Billups come up with a big game. This isn't coincidence as each of these players is key to their teams' success. Whether Billups is still injured or not is a subject of much conjecture. Regardless of Billups' injury status, Rondo must set the pace for the game and keep the ball moving as well as being aggressive on both ends of the court.
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Paul Pierce vs Tayshaun Prince
In game 3, Pierce only scored 11 points but he also held Prince to just 4 points. Pierce needs to continue to play Prince tough on defense but he also needs to be aggressive in looking for his shot on offense as well to make the Pistons work on defense.
Honorable Mention Kendrick Perkins vs Rasheed Wallace
Perk was a big factor in the Celtics' game 3 win. They will need him to be aggressive once again in this game especially on defense. If Perk can once again be just as aggressive on both ends of the court, the Celtics have a good chance of winning.
to the GameDefense, Defense, Defense There is one constant in the Celtics wins and that is their tough team defense. There is one constant in their losses and that is their failure to play defense. The Celtics won game 3 because of their defensive pressure and they must bring that in this game if they hope to win another game on the road.
Aggressiveness and Intensity In game 3, the Celtics came out aggressive on both ends of the court right from the tip. They must play aggressively for 48 minutes. As they saw in the 4th quarter of game 3, if they let up even for a short time, the Pistons will take advantage. The team that wants this game the most and plays with the most intensity both on offense and defense will win it.
Ball Movement and Tempo The Celtics must push the ball as much as possible and they have to move the ball to beat the Pistons' pressure. When they stop moving the ball their offense becomes stagnant and they have trouble scoring. But, when they push the tempo and move the basketball to find the open man, they don't have problems scoring.
Rebound Rebounding is very important as it indicates the amount of effort a team puts out. The Celtics out rebounded the Pistons by a big margin in game 3 and they must keep up their hustle on the boards as the Pistons can kill you with second chance points.
X-FactorBench and Role Players Perk and Rondo along with the Celtics bench came up big in game 3 and they must do that again for the Celtics to win this game. As shown by the loss in game 2 when all three stars had big games, they need the bench and Rondo and Perk to step up.