Monday NBA and NHL Playoffs

By Mike Godsey

There are two playoff games on the schedule for Monday night, and they’re
both going to be played in Detroit.
For the winners, check out the top sports
handicapper Joe Duffy at OffshoreInsiders.com. style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Here’s a look at the Pistons and Wings in your
playoff gameday:

Boston
Celtics at Detroit
Pistons, 8:30pm ET

The Pistons might have all the recent postseason experience, but they now
find themselves down 2-1 to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston
opened the series with an 88-79 win at home, but Detroit
bounced back to knock off the Celtics 103-97 in Game 2 in Boston.
Game 3 was played back in Detroit
on Saturday night, with the Celtics looking to pick up their very first road
victory of the playoffs. Boston
roared out to a 50-32 lead at the break in that contest, and then cruised from
there to the 94-80 win. Kevin Garnett led the way with 22 points and 13
rebounds for Boston on Saturday,
while Ray Allen was good for 14 points. Paul Pierce had only 11 points on
4-of-6 shooting in the win. Richard Hamilton poured in 26 points in the loss
for Detroit, Rodney Stuckey
contributed 17 points off the bench, and Rasheed Wallace picked up 12 points.

Despite Boston’s success on the
road in Game 3 the oddsmakers still opened the Pistons as 5.5-point home
favorites for Game 4. The contest’s total was opened at 175.

Pittsburgh
Penguins at Detroit
Red Wings, 8:00pm ET

The Penguins rolled through the Eastern Conference side of the NHL playoffs,
but it looks like they’ll find the going tougher against the Red Wings in the
Stanley Cup final. Detroit got a
pair of goals from Mikael Samuelsson
on Saturday night as they rolled to a 4-0 win in the opening game of the
championship series; Samuelsson had scored just two
goals over the first three rounds of the playoffs. Dan Cleary and class=SpellE>Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings late in the
third period to secure the victory. Detroit’s
stifling defense allowed netminder Chris Osgood to
have a relaxing evening – he had to make just 19 saves for the shutout. Pens
counterpart Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 of 36 shots
in the loss. Detroit forward Johan class=SpellE>Franzen sat out Game 1 with his head injury, while veterans
Chris Chelios (Wings) and Gary Roberts (Penguins)
were both scratches.

The oddsmakers like the Red Wings’ chances of taking a 2-0 lead in this
series, as they opened as -170 home favorites for Monday night. The total for
the game opened at 5.5.