Andre Gomes Available Picks

May, 28 2008 8:30pm EST
ATS: Boston Celtics -6 (-110)
LOSS for -3 unit(s)

Detroit Pistons at Boston Celtics

Decisive game tonight in this series, with Boston and Detroit tied 2-2 right now and a win tonight will put one of these teams one win away from the NBA final. Even though this series is 2-2 right now, we have seen it all in this series, with both teams winning one game at home and the other one on the road and this game may be dangerous for Boston, however the analysis of this game can't be just around this fact. Detroit completely dominated Boston in the Game 4 of the series, winning at home by 94-75 which even seems to be short to the domination they had in the Game and actually Boston scored 32 of their points in the free throw line. The magic of the playoffs is that this represent barely nothing to the following game, as a Boston bounce back for tonight has to be expected. It has been just like that during the whole post season and it's only necessary to see that the Lakers after losing the Game 3 by 19 points against the Spurs were capable of winning the Game 4. The main question in here is to know if the bounce back of Boston is actually enough to stop Detroit, as the Pistons are one of the most experienced teams in the league and the only team which was capable to win at Boston in this playoffs. In the Game 4, the big three of Boston was simply terrible. Ray Allen shot 2-8 FG, Garnett 6-16 FG and Pierce 3-14 FG, combining a total of 11-38 (28.9%) FG. Obviously there is no team which can beat Detroit with their big three shooting like that, so it's expected that these three players will comeback to their real level today. They never panic, especially Ray, Paul and KG. They're always poised," center Kendrick Perkins said. "They never talk negative, even after the loss they stayed positive. It was like, 'Don't even worry about it. We aren't losing any more games at home.'" The bounce back of Boston tonight won't be via their offense, with good shooting percentages, etc... it will be around the attitude of the team and the level of aggressiveness they will show today. And it's here that the Celtics will have the edge over Detroit, especially as Boston has outrebounded Detroit in all games this season, with 54-36 in the Game 3 and with Boston being more aggressive today, these numbers are expected to raise for Boston's side. On the other side, in the two wins of Detroit, the team was capable of having an excellent ball movement (27-7 and 21-9 ast/to) and this will also be affected by the aggressiveness of Boston, with the key of that being put an extra pressure on Billups, who even though still injured (" Billups said his hamstring "actually felt a lot better today than it did the other day." It didn't look that way to me. Billups missed nine of his 12 attempts, and at times, he appeared to have no lift on his jump shot -- like the octopi over at the Joe, Billups was all arms."), was still capable of conducting the attack of the Pistons very well. In the two wins of the Pistons, Billups combined 7 assists and 0 turnovers, but when he was pressured, Detroit wasn't able to play well and they naturally lost those games. This aggressiveness that I am talking about in my write-up is visible in the points in the paint which both teams have been scoring during the series. When Boston won, they outscored Detroit by a combined of 78-46, but in the two wins of Detroit, the difference is quite obvious, as Boston just outscored Detroit by a combined of 60-48. I believe this series may need 7 games before we know who will win the East this season and in this scenario and just like which has been happening in some series, the team which is losing during the game simply gives up on the game and starts preparing the following game, by saving energies. I think this will be the case today of Detroit. So, take Boston in here.