It will be the Big Three versus the "usual" conference finalist the Pistons. Pistons have so many weapons in its starting lineup from Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Prince, and even Rasheed Wallace when he feels like it. Then they have Rodney Stuckey, a rookie guard that showed he is ready for prime time basketball along with McDyess and Maxiell grabbing boards at center. On the hand, the Pistons never faced three All-Stars in one team along with growing point guard Rajon Rondo. Now to take a closer look in what each team needs to do to win.
Pistons
Win on the road. It will come down to whether or not Billups is 100% from his injury from the second round against the Magics. The Pistons will also have problems if Wallace does not bring his A-game against Garnett because everyone knows Garnett will bring his. Wallace cannot fire 3-balls all the time and instead must bully Garnett in the paint and fight for rebounds. Prince must stop Pierce from explodding like he did against 'Bron for 41 pts, and Rip Hamilton must keep Ray Allen's MIA jumper MIA for the entire series. The bench also must provide some help with the boards and with Stuckey scoring. If the Pistons can hold serve at home and win one at the road, then it's the end of the line for the Celtics.
Celtics
Win on the road! The team with the best record in the League had to go 7 games against the Hawks and the Cavs is simply embarassing. The Celtics must steal one at the Palace or must risk the chance of getting upsetted at home by the Pistons. Ray Allen must find his MIA jumper and shoot lights out from the perimeter and beyond and score at least 15-20pts a game to match Rip Hamilton's performance, Garnett must keep Wallace unmotivated to play big man and Pierce must pierce through Prince's long armed yet thin defense. But for the Celtics, this isn't the main concern. The biggest role comes to young point guard Rajon Rondo who must guard Mr. big shot, Billups. Cassell cannot play at a high level anymore and House has no defense in him to guard Billups. Rondo must use his speed, dogged effort, and his trash talk to keep Billups going overboard and therefore distracted.
Because home court advantage has benefited the Celtics the whole time, I'm going to have to trust that the Celtics will hold serve and barely edge out the Pistons in game 7.
Whoever wins this series will have to battle the Lakers (assuming the Spurs and/or Hornets are eliminated due to fatigue from 7 game series) for the crown of NBA Champion.
