Detroit's fortunes look better than they did a few weeks ago, but they're
no sure thing.

They won't win the series trying to sit back in a bunch of slow paced
games with a few key scoring runs. The Celtics are capable of winning
that type of series with their strong defense and balanced offense. The
Pistons need to win with controlled, flowing offense and a hassling
defense.

On offense, they need to avoid the old problem of one guy backing down
with the ball and dribbling down the shot clock. Various sites have
talked about Billups posting up Rondo, but it would be a mistake to do
that for more than a handful of possessions in any game unless it leads
Boston to overcommitting to helping out Rondo and leaving Billups to get
easy assists. They need every player to remind Hamilton to run and shoot
or give it up, like Hunter told Hamilton against Orlando in Game 5:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20080515/SPORTS03/80515006/1051/rss16

And then, they need to move to space to give Hamilton easy passes so he
doesn't turn the ball over trying to be cute.

Wallace needs to do follow the same advice for shot selection and not
forcing passes inside. Also, on defense I'd prefer that Wallace stick to
his man for the first half and not do much trying to help out if one of
the Celtics manages to drive to the hoop. Boston isn't going to spend as
much time as Orlando trying to drive to the hoop, and there's no point in
Wallace risking cheap fouls early. He seems to pick up steam as the game
goes on, and if Boston's defense shows cracks after halftime I think that
will be the time for Wallace to take over.

A lot will ride on Prince playing like he has so far. He played pretty
weakly against Boston in the regular season, and I don't think they'll be
used to seeing him playing aggressively. I also think they'll be
surprised by Stuckey attacking the basket, and those two have the
potential to seriously disrupt Boston's defense. Again, though, if the
Pistons play too passively, the Celtics will be able to smother Detroit's
outside shooting.

So far, Detroit's games have been called fairly loosely by the refs, and
I'm hoping this continues. Boston has seen a reversal of the regular
season and has been outscored from the line, and a lot of that is because
Boston hasn't been attacking the basket. Detroit shouldn't expect any
special treatment from the refs, but I'd hate to see them suddenly start
calling a lot of ticky tacks, even if they're evenly distributed to both
teams.

Again, I think the series is going to be won or lost on how well the
Pistons can establish their offense. Aggressive movement and good shots
creates high shooting percentages and lets Detroit's defense set up.
Guys trying to be slow motion heros leads to dead spells and blown leads.