Pistons Hand Celtics First Home Loss

[December 20, 2007]  BOSTON (AP) -- Chauncey Billups hit two free throws with a tenth of a second left and the Detroit Pistons handed the Celtics their first home loss of the season, 87-85 on Wednesday night.

The Celtics (20-3) had matched their best start ever, also achieved by the 1963-64 team that eventually won the NBA title. Boston had won its first 12 home games, its most since a club-record 17 by the 1957-58 squad.

Billups, who scored 12 of his team-high 28 points in the final quarter, was fouled by Tony Allen. On the previous possession, Billups' turnover gave the Celtics a chance to grab the lead.

Richard Hamilton added 21 points for Detroit in a matchup of the Eastern Conference's top teams.

Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 26 points, and Ray Allen, who returned after missing the last two games because of a sore right ankle, had 24, including a tying 3-pointer with 18.9 seconds to play.

The Pistons held a 85-79 lead after Billups' fallaway jumper with 3:34 to play, but Eddie House and Ray Allen hit consecutive 3-pointers to tie it.

Billups then attempted to isolate Tony Allen, but lost the ball and Garnett stole it with 5.1 seconds left. Pierce missed a fadeaway, and Rasheed Wallace grabbed the rebound before calling timeout with 1.7 seconds left.

Lindsay Hunter's 3-pointer 2:18 into the final quarter gave the Pistons their first lead, 68-67, since the opening minutes. Detroit forced Boston into some tough, contested jumpers and converted a pair of breakaway layups in scoring 10 of the next 14 points to move ahead 78-71 with 5:58 to play.

The matchup featured the league's top two defensive teams and lived up to its billing. In the opening minutes, both teams found that driving to the paint would be continually challenged and were forced to rely on jumpers.

Detroit, which had trouble working the ball into Boston's interior, was 9-of-20 from 3-point range.

Notes: For the second consecutive night, the TD Banknorth Garden hosted the Eastern Conference's two top teams in their respective sports. On Tuesday night in the NHL, Ottawa beat Boston 3-2. ... Boston coach Doc Rivers was whistled for a technical midway into the second quarter. ... Rivers wasn't about to buy into any "big game" talk before the contest. "It's December 19th," he said. "Detroit's had much bigger games the past four, five years." ... The Pistons have won 14 of the last 15 games against Boston. ... Red Sox DH David Ortiz was seated courtside wearing a Ray Allen jersey.

[Associated Press]

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