|
By Michael Holley, Globe Columnist, 5/11/2002
 Now they understand how this secret society - also known as the NBA playoffs - works. Now it no longer sounds like a riddle when someone tells the Celtics, ''The playoffs are a different game. You have to participate to know what I mean.''
The Celtics beat the Pistons last night at the FleetCenter, and their 66-64 win definitely qualified as a different game. Different and dangerous. Both teams played as if they were beamed in from the 1940s NBA. They missed most of their shots and then gang-tackled when it was time to play defense.
Most people you run into today will tell you how ugly it was. In a sense, they will be right. No one wants to watch an Eastern Conference semifinal in which the winning team shoots 34.8 percent from the field and attempts 12 free throws. This was one of those times when you didn't want to share your favorite team with the rest of America. You hoped that everyone outside of New England and Michigan had other Friday night plans.
But as artless as the game was for most of the public, it was a 48-minute growth spurt for the Celtics. This was their password into that secret society. They are now masters of playoff Zen. It's one thing to spend a Friday night making 19 3-pointers against Philadelphia. It's even more difficult when you can return a week later and win a street fight that has no consistent rules.
The Celtics did that to take a 2-1 lead in this series and, because of it, they know they will most likely advance to the conference finals. They beat the Pistons Wednesday by playing Celtic ball. They beat the Pistons last night by playing a hybrid of Piston ball and the stuff that Pat Riley presented the NBA in the late 1980s and early '90s.
You should have seen some of the contact officials Joe DeRosa, Dan Crawford, and Scott Foster allowed in the lane. Guys were getting away with pushes in the back, two-hand clutches, and overly aggressive handchecks. This is a case where the box score tells you nothing. Thirty-three total free throw attempts? Please. If this had been the regular season, the game would have lasted close to three hours and each team would have had 40 freebies.
The best playoff teams learn that the regular season is a facade. In the postseason, the winners learn that officials are more lenient (last night, they were lenient to a fault). Not many touch fouls, partner. Deal with it.
''It was like one of those old Heat-Knicks series out there,'' Pistons guard Dana Barros said. ''They weren't calling much.''
  In the end, Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce were able to pull off two plays that would bring tears to the eyes of Red Auerbach. There was Pierce winking at Walker and then threading a pass that led to a Walker layup. Then there was a gorgeous give-and-go that went Pierce to Walker and back to Pierce for another layup.
Those were the best highlights. Other than that? Tough viewing. The worst moment of all came in the final 5.8 seconds, with the Celtics leading by 4. Kenny Anderson remembered that the team had a foul to give, so he fouled Chucky Atkins. On a 3-point attempt. Atkins made two of his free throws and missed the third on purpose. Jerry Stackhouse wound up with the ball and was a second too late on a successful three.
 ''If we had lost that game,'' Anderson said, ''I would have slit my wrists. I'm serious. Maybe not; my mother is in town.''
They didn't lose, and Walker was leaving the building talking about the game as a lesson.
''I think we got a lot of confidence from this one,'' he said. ''The only thing I didn't like seeing was a few guys passing up shots. A couple of times, I think Rodney [Rogers] hesitated on shots, and he should have put them up. If we had been a little more aggressive, the game might have been easier.''
The young Celtics know better now.
''We know the shots won't always be there,'' Walker said. ''So we may have to win like this.''
Before the playoffs began, Walker interviewed several playoff veterans and asked them what he should expect. They told him as much as they could, but they knew he still had to experience it to understand. Interview season is over now. The team's cocaptain recently purchased 26 suits, one for each possible playoff game. If he and his teammates keep making adjustments - especially on the bad nights - he just might be able to use all of them.
|
