Game 3 Preview: Boston at Detroit

Turning our attention to Sunday's match-up against the Detroit Pistons, let us first address the 22 point lead evaporation sized elephant in the room.

The loss to Milwaukee this past Friday was not an easy one to watch. Not only in terms of watching a massive lead slip away, but the lack of urgency in which the Celtics dealt with it on the floor.

If nothing else, the loss to another Eastern Conference tanking bubble team will hopefully serve as a wake up call to the 2013-14 Celtics. An alarm that is set to be answered against the Detroit Pistons Sunday night.

"I want losing to hurt, first and foremost," coach Brad Stevens said. "Losing should hurt. But I don't want it to be something that lingers. You lose, you learn from it, and you move on."

"We can't play like that. It all starts with me," said [Jeff]Green, who scored 25 in a 93-87 loss at Toronto on Wednesday. "We've got to get it going in the right direction and I take responsibility for that."

So... deep breath. 0-2 is as bad as you can be after two games, but it is just that; two games. There are 80 more games to be played and that is a LOT of basketball. Shifting gears to the next challenge- The Detroit Pistons.

Coming off of a 111-108 overtime loss to Memphis this past Friday, Detroit point guard, Brandon Jennings is optimistic about the season.

"(Friday) night was a good opportunity for us to see where we are to see if we can compete with a team that was in the Western Conference finals," Jennings said. "I took a lot of confidence off of that, to know we're going to be pretty good this year."

Jennings, who is recovering from a jaw injury, could very well make his Pistons regular season debut against the Celtics. Should Jennings play, he will join Josh Smith, Andre Drummond, and Greg Monroe, who have been lighting it up this far this season and helping the Pistons transition into a Eastern Conference playoff team.

The match-up I am most looking forward to this evening is Jeff Green and Josh Smith. This should be fun to watch as what is expected of each player by their respective fan base is virtually identical. Thus far this season, their head to head stats seem to be pacing pretty evenly, so this match-up comes at the perfect time.

The interesting wrinkle here is player perception. Smith, a consistent threat to the Celtics and one of our more fun opponents since his entry into the NBA in 2004, is seen as a scorer. A player that can be described as instant offense on a good night. Granted he's never met a shot he wasn't absolutely in love with, but that is beside the point.

The way I feel about Josh Smith is the way I WANT to feel about Jeff Green. With several bad losses looming over the Celtics and the pressure to lead this team mounting, I would say the chance of a Jeff Green breakout game is as high as it has ever been.

Bold Prediction: Not very bold. This one could go either way.

• Best Case Scenario: Boston wins in an "upset." 
• Worst Case Scenario: Wallace points fingers at actual people in the post game press conference.

Follow Padraic O'Connor on Twitter @padraic_oconnor

Source: Celtics.com