Celtics Vs. Pistons: A Historical Rivalry Revive

With the Finals of the Eastern Conference in this year's NBA Playoffs, revives a historical rivalry between the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics that comes from the Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas era.

Fans of the "Bad Boys" of Detroit and the Bird-led Celtics surely remember that time when the two teams faced each other 5 times in the playoffs between 1985 and 1991, with Detroit winning three of these match ups and where there were memorable and very key moments in the history of both teams and the NBA itself.

One of these moments was in 1987 when the Pistons reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since they moved to Detroit. After getting a 2-2 tie with the Celtics, the Pistons were just seconds away of winning the Game 5 when Larry Bird stole an inbounds pass from Isiah Thomas and passed it to Dennis Johnson for the game-winning layup. After this, though the Pistons won the Game 6, they lost the Game 7 and the Celtics made their last appearance in a NBA Final.

Another memorable moment took place the following year when the two teams met each other again at the conference finals, but this time Detroit won the series, 4-2 and reached the NBA Final for the first time.

Since then, the two teams have faced each other just once more, in the 2002 Eastern Conference Semifinals, where Boston won the series, 4-1.

Now; the Pistons and the Celtics met again, but this time the teams are entirely different. Even Pistons President Joe Dumars, who was part of that time when along with Isiah Thomas formed one of the best backcourts in the NBA history, said that he's not interested in reminiscing his playing days as they're not relevant for his actual players. "These guys have no history with the Boston Celtics," he said. "For them, it's the team that is standing between us and the NBA finals."

The main characters of this year include two of the most respected power forwards of the NBA, Boston's Kevin Garnett and Detroit's Rasheed Wallace. Boston obtained the home-court advantage due to their 66 wins in regular season against Detroit's 59 wins and started the series with an 88-79 victory in Game 1.

However, Wallace and its team wrecked that home-court advantage winning Game 2 at the Boston Garden, where the Celtics hadn't lost a single game in the post-season. In a trilling game, despite the amazing game played by the Boston's big three (Garnett with 24, Ray Allen with 25 and Pierce with 26) it wasn't enough against the spectacular team game put out by the 5 of Detroit, the Pistons tied the series 1-1 with offensive and defensive efforts last Thursday, with a 103-97 score.

The third date of these two Eastern greatest will be this Saturday May 24, this time in Detroit, where the Celtics will try hard to recover their home-court advantage and the Pistons feeling more comfortable after their great game two, will defend their home-court without taking anything for granted and keeping their team-play which has proven to be their winning card.

About the author:
Cindy Ferguson is a high-ranking sports writer for NBA Playoffs in the sports betting industry.