Detroit at Boston

The core of this Pistons team has been through a lot of playoff games together. They certainly know the significance of being down 1-0, and looking down the barrel at 2-0. This is a team that plays defense with the best of them. They also understand, as much as anyone that winning on the road in the NBA Playoffs happens on the defensive end of the court. And, with Boston playing defense as well as they are, Detroit is smart enough to know the recipe for success tonight - slow down the Boston offense. The Pistons will step up their defensive intensity tonight. Boston has been extremely consistent on defense at home all year, and especially in the playoffs. They aren't waivering from that tonight or any time in the near future. The history also gives us some additional confidence in what we expect here. The past 14 years game two in the NBA Conference Finals has gone UNDER 19 times out of 25 or 76% of the time! Under Flip Saunders, Detroit is 34-14 UNDER as a road underdog including 21-8 UNDER as a dog of 3.5 to 9.5 points. This season, the Pistons are 11-2 UNDER when the total is under 180! We have two teams with a defensive mindset that combined for 167 points in game one, now in a critical game two, backed up with 14 years of history indicating the UNDER is the play in this one.