NBA Blogging: ROUND TWO! FIGHT!!

Are you ready for some....roundball!? Yeah, actually, I'm not so much gearing up for the Wildcard Weekend as I am tonight's second encounter between the Celtics and the Pistons. Which promises to be as monumental as an early regular season game in the NBA can get.

The Celtics are 20-3 and riding a 9 game winning streak. Statistically, they rank among the best teams. Not this year but ever.

But, if you'll recall, one of those three loses came against....the Pistons. Who are on an 11 game win streak of their own (Which, yes, does include the win against Boston), in which they've just been hammering the competition. Posting double digit margins of victory in all but a few of their victories and definitely sparking a conversation about which one is the true Beast of the East.

I think you can guess where I stand on the issue. Aside from being a rampant homer, I think Boston's been the beneficiary of a soft-schedule and the Pistons have learned that the regular season doesn't matter. Coasting through those 82 games and hoping to turn it on like a light switch has hurt them in the past but, well, you don't need to get 70 wins to be a good team and the amount of effort required is probably counter-productive when it comes to winning a title. And, unlike an undefeated NFL season no one really cares about how many wins you pile up in the NBA regular season, it's more about how healthy you can survive it and your seeding come the playoffs.

The Pistons, in other words, have been there before and know what it takes to get back. While Boston doesn't and that, I think, gives them the edge in any seven game series. A winning record in the regular season series isn't all that important but, you know, it's nice. Considering that, in the wake of the Red Sox's and Patriots' seasons, Boston is primed for unprecedented success, I think it's time for all the right thinking people of the world to come together and hope, hope that I'm right. Because Detroit just might be the last, best chance to stop the Boston Juggernaut.