Determined Pistons end Celtics' Garden Party

We knew it was going to end eventually, knew that one night some team was going to come in here and battle the crowd and the noise, the refs and those old Garden ghosts and beat the Boston Celtics.

We knew it was inevitable, just a matter of time.

We knew that this wasn't going to continue forever, that one night something was going to happen and the Celtics were going to lose their home-court advantage.

We just didn't know it was going to be last night.

But Thursday night the Detroit Pistons came in here and did what both the Atlanta Hawks and LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers could not do, came in here, into this hothouse that is the Garden in the playoffs, and stole a game. It was the Celtics' first home loss since late February, their first in 16 games.

But "stole" is really the wrong word.

The Pistons didn't steal last night's game, as they came in here and won it.

They led at the half.

They led at the end of the third quarter.

And they clung to their lead throughout the fourth quarter, clung to it like a team that has been to six straight Eastern Conference finals knows how to do, and won a huge game. They hit tough shots. They refused to buckle when the Celtics came at them like attack dogs near the end.

In short, they did everything they had to do on their trip here for the first two games of this series -- win one game.

That was what they wanted, what they needed, to reverse the home-court advantage.

And now, for the first time in these playoffs, the Celtics are going to have to win a game on the road, are going to have to prove they can be as good on the road as they have been here at the Garden.

But make no mistake, this was a great NBA game.

For if the regular season is checkers, the playoffs are chess.

More cerebral. More strategy. More everything.

Basketball chess.

Tuesday night, Detroit coach Flip Saunders had likened the first game to a championship fight, both teams trying to figure the other out.

But it's more than that, too.

During the regular season, there is little time to prepare for opponents. Not like the NFL, where there is a week between games. Not like baseball, where you often play the same team four straight games.

Here, there's always another opponent coming up, sometimes back-to-back. There is little time to prepare, and often the players hear only half of the scouting reports, anyway, rely on their basketball instincts.

Checkers.

The common perception is the NBA is a "players league," the assumption being that coaches simply roll the ball out and let them play. The common perception is that there's little strategy. The reality is it's a lot more complicated than that. The playoffs are full of adjustments, a succession of little games inside the larger game, each move a reaction to the ones that came before.

Chess.

"Detroit is who they've been for years," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, "and they're not going to come out and be a new team. You play to your strong suit."

On this night they did.

The Pistons were much better than they had been in the first game, more like the Pistons we've come to know, much tougher defensively than they had been in the first game. It was a page out of a Detroit handbook -- halfcourt, grind-it-out. Forget finesse. Forget rhythm. The Pistons are about as subtle as the internal combustion engine.

It's not the Celtics' style, but once again they got a great first half from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Still, they were down by seven at the half, a reminder of why this Detroit team is in its sixth straight Eastern Conference finals.

And in the second half, when it counted, it was the Pistons who did not fold, continued to run their offense and make shots, showing exactly how they have won a lot of big games.

Rip Hamilton. Rasheed Wallace. Antonio MyDyess. Chauncey Billups. Tayshaun Prince. Rodney Stuckey, the rookie.

They all had their moments and, when it mattered most, they refused to crack.

So give them credit. They came in here and got the one game they needed.

And if we all knew the Celtics eventually were going to lose a home game, it still came as a bit of a surprise. They are so good here, and the Garden is such a home-court advantage.

Now they're going to have to win a game on the road in these playoffs, something they have yet to do.

Their season now depends on it.

(Contact Bill Reynolds at breynold@projo.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)