Team Colours

White Collar – Take your pick: Garnett or Pierce. One, the other or both were central to seemingly 90 percent of every positive Celtics happening all night at either end. Garnett was aggressive offensively, slicing inside or launching jumpers assertively off the catch. Pierce was mostly masterful manipulating the Pistons off the dribble and finding teammates and also did a credible job containing Prince on the other end. Garnett finished with 26 points on 11 of 17 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Pierce had 22 on 9 of 18, six boards and six assists.

PIERCE ON GARNETT: “We feel Kev has the advantage almost every night, so we try to get him established. It’s great to have a guy like this. I’ve never played with anybody like this in my whole career. He just makes my life so much easier.”

Blue Collar – The only Pistons starter seemingly unaffected by the week off initially was Antonio McDyess. If not for McDyess’ 10-point, seven-rebound first quarter, the Pistons would have been running up Heartbreak Hill all night. McDyess finished with 14 points – Prince led them with 16, Hamilton 15 – and 11 rebounds.

Red Flag – Billups’ lack of productivity wasn’t especially surprising given his layoff the uncertain health, but the Pistons couldn’t afford Wallace’s ineffective offensive performance on top of it. Except for two stretches – in the second quarter when he scored six straight points, and in the fourth when he hit tough consecutive jumpers – Wallace was dominated by Garnett. Wallace finished 3 of 12, missing all three from the 3-point arc, for 11 points to go with five rebounds.

GARNETT: “I wouldn’t say (he dominated Wallace). Both players are trying to be aggressive, trying to get the upper hand, trying to get each other in foul trouble. Playing Rasheed is like looking in the mirror. It’s a tough matchup, but, hey, it’s what I do. I’ve got to try to bust his butt like he’s trying to bust mine.”