A few weeks ago when Boston lost at home to Detroit (and let me remind you that they lost only by two less-than-last-second free throws), it was one of the defining moments of this young season.  Immediately, the world pounced.  Immediately following the game, promos running on ESPN for Sportscenter declared, "Celtics Fail Test".  Similar headlines and bylines and all sorts of lines could be found over the following days.  All stated the same case:  Boston was overrated. 

They finally played a "real" team and couldn't measure up.  Let me remind you they lost by 2 points with a fraction of the second on the clock.  Whether the media was caught up in the anti-Boston hype, I don't know, but they couldn't be more pleased that the Celtics lost that game.

Flash forward to last Saturday.  Another game that went pretty close to the wire.  Hard fought by both clubs, but this time the Celtics were victorious.  Was Boston proud of themselves?  Of course!  After their previous loss they had a gigantic gorilla dropped on their back.  They weren't for real -- yeah, they could beat up the bad teams but they couldn't take down the good ones.  Well, they came to Detroit.  They saw what the Pistons had and they conquered.  These are shaping up to be the two teams who will meet in the Eastern Conference Finals -- the C's now know that they can beat them.

They were happy -- and the Pistons were peeved.

 "They're acting like they won the title," forward Amir Johnson said.

"They're a little more happy than I know we were when we won our game out there," Billups said. "It was just like a regular game for us with two good teams playing. They were kind of playing like it's the Super Bowl, man.

"It's just a regular game with two good teams playing. There was probably a little more at stake for them and their psyche than there was for us. But they won. It's cool."

That's why Chauncey choked at the close of the game -- he didn't realize that this game mattered!

Their biggest complaints were that several C's players were "popping" their jerseys and that James Posey was antagonizing their fans behind the Celtics bench.  He was mocking their arena announcer (which I can't blame him for -- the guy was brutal!  He probably drives every single away team crazy during their games -- how do we implement that in Boston?) and told the fans, "Thanks for coming."

Detroit has had their way with the Eastern Conference for a few years now.  They never had the heart or willpower to be truly dominant like they should've been.  Now, they no longer sit atop the perch alone and they're handling it like a group of 12 year olds who have to share a bathroom with their little brother.

Mark Wednesday, March 5th on your calendar.   That's when we'll meet again, and I guarantee you, the Pistons won't be able to hide behind their excuses after that one.