The way Pistons All-Star guard Chauncey Billups sees it, there have been very regular regular-season games for his team this season and then there are the ones against their renewed rivals, the Celtics.
Tonight, the third and final regular-season matchup between the NBA Eastern Conference's top two teams takes place when the Pistons visit the TD Banknorth Garden. And with the first two intense and gritty games in mind, Billups is definitely looking forward to tonight.
"Oh man, it was so much fun, man, so much fun, man. I loved it," Billups said. "With the East being where it is right now, those games are kind of fun in between. You get real good basketball, teams that are elite status that go at it, and it could go either way. I love it. I love it. You always get excited.
"At the end of the day, in the regular season, it's just a game. But some games you get more excited than others because you have the chance to prove something."
The Celtics instantly were viewed as strong contenders to win the Eastern Conference after acquiring perennial All-Stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in the offseason. While Cleveland was last season's East champ, the Pistons appear to be Boston's biggest roadblock to the NBA Finals.
Billups and Detroit coach Flip Saunders acknowledged that the Celtics have more than lived up to expectations.
"They've had a great year," said Saunders, who coached Garnett in Minnesota. "They have been able to withstand Garnett's injury, Ray Allen's injury. They had the magic touch at the beginning of the season where they were able to win all those close games.
"But we'll find out something the last 30 games because they've played the fewest games in the West Coast of anybody. Now their schedule gets a little bit tougher and they have to play some of those teams and see where they pan out."
Billups, who played with Garnett in Minnesota, said, "They've met pretty much what I thought they would after getting the players they acquired this summer. When they got KG, I just knew they got the perfect All-Star. He's a guy who will sacrifice some things.
"With his intensity and the way he plays, he was going to hold everybody accountable. You've got to bring a certain amount of effort to the game or you're going to look out of place. He just plays that hard."
The first two meetings between the Celtics and Pistons this season have been classic contests. The Pistons won the first, 87-85, in Boston after Billups nailed two free throws with 0.1 seconds left Dec. 19. The Celtics won the second, 92-85, in Auburn Hills, Mich., as rookie forward Glen Davis scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter Jan. 5.
Saunders said the games had a "playoff-type atmosphere," but as intense as they were, Billups and Saunders understand that an Eastern final matchup would take this rivalry to another level.
"It would be a real, real, real intense series," Billups said. "You're looking at a [Celtics] team that everyone's pretty much been talking about all season as far as are they the best of this or the best of that. And they have - they've been good.
"You can't fight that. But then you look at us. We've been right there, hovering at the top. Like I've always said, we're not going anywhere. It would be a hard-fought series."
Said Saunders, "You know there is an opportunity that you might play against those people in the playoffs and we'll have to go through each other. You get a little juiced up to play them."
With about six weeks remaining in the season, the race for home-court advantage in the East is basically between the Celtics (46-12) and Pistons (44-16), who yesterday signed veteran center Theo Ratliff, who was released Friday by the Timberwolves.
The Pistons, who defeated Seattle last night, have reached the Eastern finals each of the last five years, making the NBA Finals twice and winning it all in 2004.
Considering Detroit's experience and reputation for playing well with its back against the wall, Saunders doesn't seem concerned about landing the top seed.
"You look at it a little bit," said Saunders. "But we don't feel like we have to be the No. 1 seed to come out of the East."
"If it happens, it happens," said Hamilton. "Our mission is to get back to the Finals."
The Boston team the Pistons potentially see in the playoffs, however, will be different from the one they see tonight. The Celtics have made recent additions in veterans Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown, and while Brown might make his debut tonight, it's uncertain when Cassell will. But both are expected to play big roles in the postseason.
"It brings them some veterans that know how to win," Billups said. "I think it makes them better, I really do."
