Take 10: Nine Celtics-Pistons questions, and one other mystery

The problem is age. More on that later.

5. Conversely, why are the Celtics playing such outstanding defense?

It's Kevin Garnett. He might be the most undervalued athlete in professional sports. You forget that he's 6-11 because he moves with the athletic grace of someone much smaller. That allows him to dominate the middle and swiftly rotate against the Piston shooters. If a Detroit player breaks the outer shell of Boston's defense, Garnett is there to block or alter a shot.

Garnett mostly adds resoluteness and toughness. It's not that the Celtics were soft B.G. (Before Garnett). It's just that his presence makes that much of a difference.

Outside of Garnett the entire Celtics team hustles. The best stat about Boston's team defense in the series is this: The Pistons in Game 3 were 1-for-13 from the 3-point range.

4. Why do women find Flavor Flav so attractive?

This question is of grave importance. Not that I'm Denzel Washington, but if Sam Cassell and Courtney Love had a baby it would look like Flavor Flav. Yet Flav has all these attractive women fighting over him on his reality show. Someone, please explain this to me.

3. How is the Celtics' bench doing?

Not bad at all. Game 3 is a perfect example of the versatility of Boston's reserves. When Garnett and Ray Allen got into early foul trouble, Cassell contributed five points, James Posey 12 points and P.J. Brown some solid defense and four rebounds.

2. How good is Boston center Kendrick Perkins?

He's not great, but he is effective. Perkins had 12 points and 10 rebounds in a solid Game 3 effort. Look for Perkins to be the Celtics' secret weapon for the remainder of this series.

1. Is the Detroit Pistons era officially over?

If they lose this series, maybe. A failure against the Celtics would mean three consecutive Eastern Conference finals losses.

While it's difficult to declare such a great era over, it's clear even to the untrained eye that this Pistons team is aging rapidly. Rasheed Wallace looks like a different person in this series, and Billups' hamstring is aging in dog years.

And in Game, 3 Pistons fans booed their team.

Either that or they were booing Flavor Flav.