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BOSTON -- Rasheed Wallace did everything you'd expect to motivate himself in the minutes leading up to Tuesday night's Eastern Conference Finals opening game. He yelled to no one in particular. He tossed his warm-ups high and then used them to wipe the Garden floor. Not sure why. He sang to himself. He walked over to Celtics coach Doc Rivers and hugged him; Rivers awkwardly reciprocated.
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| No, don't get fooled by the hugging. All this went on before the game started. (Getty Images) |
After all the exclamations and Whitney Houston-like antics, the game began, and Kevin Garnett promptly lit up Wallace with a 17-footer, a six-foot turnaround and a 20-foot bomb. Boom, boom, boom.
Initially it looked as if Garnett was going to abuse Wallace but underneath all of that outward craziness and temper tantrums there is a spectacular, diabolically clever player.
After Garnett's initial explosion a hardcore man-to-man battle erupted between Garnett, the Defensive Player of the Year, and Wallace, as the two spent significant chunks of the night guarding one another. It was a gorgeous thing to watch: The Big Ticket versus Mr. Preposterous.
Garnett won the battle in the end, leading the Celtics with 26 points and nine rebounds as Boston beat the Pistons 88-79. You definitely get the feeling these two will be seeing plenty of each other as the series progresses.
Garnett and Wallace downplayed their matchup. They're the only ones who are.
"Two talented players that have a lot of pride and they're going at each other," Boston's P.J. Brown said. "Both of them trying to will their teams to win and it's good competition. It's good to see. Two guys like that at the top of their games playing great basketball. It's definitely enjoyable to watch."
Detroit coach Flip Saunders believes Garnett is feeling extra motivation in facing Wallace and that accounted for his quick start. Garnett says his only motivation is winning.
"Playing Detroit is the motivation," Garnett said. "It being the conference finals is the motivation. Knowing that it's a goal at hand and this is the task at hand and if we get through this, then there's one more step towards the goal, that's the motivation."
Speaking about the loss Wallace, using spectacular grammar, remarked that "Ain't nobody in this joint nervous."
Garnett's excellent efforts on specifically Wallace and the Pistons overall in a way typified Boston's night. They completely suffocated Detroit, keeping key players like Chauncey Billups (nine points) and Wallace (three of 12 from the field) bottled up. Detroit shot only 42 percent from the field.
Garnett has been the most consistent Celtic in the postseason. Not even Wallace's superb defensive abilities could alter that fact. At least not in Game 1.
