So Paul Pierce broke out of his series long mire and poured in 41 points in another Celtics’ Game Seven win despite the King’s do-it-all 47-point performance. A raucous crowd that wailed ceaselessly, the aforementioned duel, a nip-and-tuck, do-or-die, win-or-go-home contest and a resurrected P.J. Brown combined to generate a memorable Sunday afternoon for the NBA Universe.

Come on, now. You think I’m that sentimental and clichéd to imitate every capricious sportswriter in this country that bemoans futility and invariably hyperbolizes perceived greatness? I’m coming at you with the rugged truth.

Survival means everything to a disappointing and disconnected Celtics team heading into tomorrow’s Eastern Conference Finals with the Pistons. A failure to win on the road tarnishes what they have accomplished thus far – which falls miles short of anything that matters.

The two teams began a rivalry in the ‘80s with Bird and Isiah. But recent history adds plenty of intrigue to a showdown between two teams with the best record in the league this past season.

The Pistons own the rights to the Eastern Conference after securing their sixth consecutive trip to the Conference Finals to go along with two Finals appearances and one prestigious title over Shaq and Kobe. The Celts’ bid to usurp altered the betting lines across the season. After a Brady-Moss like start in November, the Celts stumbled in their much-anticipated debut against the Pistons as Detroit walked away a victor due mainly to the mismatch at the point. The Piston’s muscular and stoic quarterback, Chauncey Billups – a.k.a. Mr. Big Shot, remains a daunting challenge for the featherweight and less tested Rajon Rondo. But let’s downgrade the Celts further by treading through their shoddy play of late that prevents yesterday’s “epic” game from earning classic status.

To always paint a picture from my days rooting for the departed Knicks, I trek back to the last time New York buzzed with fleeting unity as Ewing, Starks and Co. fell one victory short of setting off two ticker-taped parades in one week following the Rangers’ crystallized quest for the cup. Hopefully that last line does not infringe on any NHL trademarks that could lead to commissioner Gary Bettman assaulting me with a bevy of lawsuits that effectively crushed a league already skating on …(you as the reader has the power to complete this telegraphed sentence without resorting to overused sayings that swim constantly in your humble narrator’s head.)

The Knicks played in 25 games that postseason – one short of the maximum. After defeating an inferior Nets team in the first round, the Knicks outlasted the Bulls sans Jordan, but playing with a primed Scottie Pippen in seven games. Neither Ewing nor Pippen dropped 40 in the final contest but the competitive nature of that series cumulated with a terrific capper.

Doc Rivers can peddle transparent adulation at his team but no pregame bombast can immortalize a series for the woeful. Game Six seemed to encapsulate Boston’s brief affair by Lake Erie. If 69 points did not say enough, Boston’s catalytic point guard, Rondo, rode his sensational Game Five break out to a two-point, five-assist night that kept the C’s winless on the road. Throw Pierce-LeBron’s showcase in a vacuum and you might elicit awe. Unfortunately, I sat though most of the other six games stupefied.

Boston beat a mediocre team. The Cavs upset the Pistons last season but besides that did not look impressive in any of the other three series, including an embarrassing four-game sweep against the Spurs. General Manager Danny Ferry knows he must appease LeBron before 2011 when the King’s contract expires. Ferry triggered a massive, three-team trade at the deadline to boost a team suffering through a hangover to begin the year. The results: the same offensively inefficient team that needs complimentary pieces.

Jordan could not have instilled focus and drive into a team littered with has-beens, and without any semblance of a refute, no one can compare LeBron to Jordan at this point in his career. That killer instinct, in fact, eludes LeBron as other less publicized superstars with lower ceilings avoid peaking before the five-minute mark. One only needs to think international and realize Dirk and Ginobli know how to finish. Or recall another top product from the ’03 draft and see a man with an assassin’s mindset, as D-Wade wears a priceless piece of jewelry on his ring finger - a reward for an innate desire to carry others.

A sharp 180 for a pundit who devoted two glowing and ballyhooed articles concerning the new Big three to lambast a misguided team that WILL stumble into a mentally superior foe. The Celts may have home-court advantage against the Pist Pumps but no writer who feasts on rationale can argue in favor of Doc Rivers’ crew unless the artist formerly known as Ray Allen transforms into Jesus Shuttlesworth. Spike needs to refocus his attention on the aging shooter and leave Kobe at peace for Allen will be featured in the key matchup in the Detroit series.

A shame that Boston’s meager play overshadows another deep run into the playoffs for Detroit as the Pistons came back from a 20-point second half deficit in Orlando to beat the Magic with Billups sidelined. The Pistons earn afterthought status because of recent failures to advance to the Finals as D-Wade led Miami and LeBron propelled Cleveland to Game Six victories at home to send the Pistons into long offseason vacations over the past two years.

A quick pessimistic outlook foresees more ridicule for Flip Saunders. After replacing a legendary coach in Larry Brown, Saunders diverted from preaching defense and with that Detroit lost an edge that served them so well with Brown and his predecessor, Rick Carlisle.

Flipping it around with this nasty pun, the Pistons swarmed Orlando’s Superman, - Dwight Howard, with a revolving door of extra-large individuals that included: Rasheed Wallace, Jason Maxiell, Antonio McDyess and Theo Ratliff. The Motown quartet nullified Howard and turned him into someone on par with Allen. That leads me back to the lecture at hand.

From one lean guard trying to recapture a wet j from UCONN to another one who continues to build on that silky stroke, Allen may have lost that air he contained in college, then Milwaukee and Seattle, but the younger Rip Hamilton continues to streak across the floor working off screens and knocking in buckets. Billups’ absence from Games Four and Five against Orlando forced Rip to up his output and score consecutive 30-point games. Hamilton could assume the role of clutch shooter on Detroit as Billups’ big shot status faded over the past two seasons.

If the masked man maintains confidence in his stellar perimeter abilities and shoots at will despite his stat line, and if he shows an intrepid style in the face of the league’s best defender in KG, then Detroit will emerge as the lowly East representative.

The last clause to my always bold prediction speaks to the pedestrian play from the East in comparison to the West so far in the playoffs. The Pistons could squander this series as they have the past two seasons but Rip’s ascension to the title of the best pure shooter in the game can turn a potentially brutal series to watch into a precursor for a riveting Finals.

Pistons in six