What's with the Pistons bizarre continued domination of the Celtics?

Greg Monroe (middle) loves playing the Celtics.
It's been more than a year since the Celtics beat the Pistons.  On December 30th, 2011 Boston knocked off Detroit 96-85 in their first game at the Garden last season.  Since that day the Pistons are 36-63 against all other teams in the NBA combined, but 4-0 vs. Boston.  In fact, in those four games the Celtics have never even come within single digits, losing by an average of 15 points.

The Pistons were 17th in the league in rebounding last year (-0.4 per game), and currently rank 11th (+1.7) this season.  But against the Celtics they crash the boards as well as anybody, out-rebounding Boston by nearly eight (7.75) per contest.

The C's biggest nemesis has been power forward/center Greg Monroe, who's averaged 18.5 points and 10.75 rebounds during Detroit's four-game head to head win streak.

There's no good reason for why the Celtics keep getting owned by the Pistons, while the rest of the NBA seems to have no trouble with them.  Over the last few years Boston has earned a reputation for frequently putting forth lackluster efforts against inferior teams, but their ongoing inability to even stay in games against Detroit is mind boggling.

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