Welcome to the Garden …
Welcome to the Garden, where the Celtics will take on the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals at 8:30 p.m. The Celtics won the regular season series between the teams, 2-1.
The conference finals are a bigger stage. Huge partitions have been erected on the parquet level of the Garden. The press work room has been expanded by a factor of 10 to accommodate the approximately 250 media members credentialed for tonight’s game. And fans already are milling about outside the arena. It’s usually pretty hard to spot a Celtics jersey three hours before gametime.
“We haven’t had this for a while,” remarked Globe columnist Bob Ryan when he entered the press room.
Ray Allen was out shooting sometime after 5 p.m. He was joined a short time later by Glen Davis, though Davis shot at the opposite end of the court. Nothing different for Allen: same routine he’s done all season. If he’s going to break out of his slump, he’s going to shoot his way out of it.
Aaron Afflalo was the first player out shooting for the Pistons. He shot around by himself — midrange jumpers.
We’ll have plenty more from the Garden when things get a little more interesting. Stay tuned.
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