FanHouse Bengordon

The Pistons have been tied to Bulls gunner Ben Gordon for ages, it seems, with pundits constantly bickering about how little or much sense a pairing made. Detroit, after all, traded All-World champ Chauncey Billups precisely to free up time for buckin' Rodney Stuckey while also inking former All-Star Rip Hamilton to an extension.

The assumed pursuit of Charlie Villanueva -- now confirmed by Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski -- makes more immediate sense. Rasheed Wallace is gone, Amir Johnson will vie for Villanueva's old job in Milwaukee, Antonio McDyess can probably find greener pastures.

But regardless of how it looks now, these are two pursuits that make bundles of sense together.

One of the most exciting series in playoff history ended with mostly a whimper on Saturday. There were no last-second shots, no game-saving blocks, and no overtimes. And there are some people in the league office who are likely breathing a huge sigh of relief because of it.

Game 7 between the Celtics and the Bulls was tense throughout, but the game was decided long before its final possession. Which is excellent news for those who aren't into controversy, since you can bet there would have been truckloads of it after a point was added by the officials to Chicago's total with just under six minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

BOSTON (AP) -- After a record-setting seven overtimes in the first six games, the Celtics made an early night of it with a dominating stretch in the second.

That's second quarter, not second OT.

Ray Allen followed his 51-point Game 6 performance with 23 on Saturday night, Paul Pierce added 20 and Boston spurted away from Chicago just before the half to finish the Bulls off 109-99 -- a rare regulation victory in what might have been be the best first-round playoff series in NBA history.

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CHICAGO -- It was a primal scream, delivered with all the rock-star force and decibels that Joakim Noah could muster in a half-raucous, half-exhausted arena. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" he yelled, or something like that. After another three hours and 56 minutes of psychoball, part of an epic series with four overtime games, seven overtime periods, 65 ties, 105 lead changes, 16 stitches, a claw to the face and a slammed body into an NBA Cares advertisement, what else would The Greatest First-Round Series Ever do but produce a Game 7?

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CHICAGO -- To all the prejudices and biases that complicate our tangled world, today we add "oafism." Rajon Rondo, as you probably know, all but defaced Brad Miller in the final frenetic seconds of Game 5 in the Best NBA First-Round Series Ever Played. Rondo leaped, popped him in the mouth, drew blood when Miller's tooth cut his lip, forced him to get a stitch job and left him so woozy that his eyeballs were peeking out of his eardrums.

It took a few extra minutes to pull it off, but the Celtics are once again in the driver's seat, defeating the Bulls 106-104 in overtime to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round matchup with Chicago. If you're surprised this game went down to the wire, well, how's that rock you've been hiding under? Four of the five games have been decided by three points or fewer, and three have gone longer than 48 minutes.

Rajon Rondo was once again phenomenal, coming just two boards shy of a triple-double (he finished with 28 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds) but it was Paul Pierce who put this game on ice for the Celtics, scoring 14 of his 26 points after the third quarter, including Boston's final six points in overtime.

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Apparently, Ben Gordon tweaked his hamstring sometime during the second quarter of the Bulls' Game 4 victory on Sunday. And obviously, none of us noticed, considering the fact that he was money down the stretch as usual.

According to Gordon, he "heard something pop," and the hamstring is sore, but he's not expected to miss any time because of it. Just to be sure it wasn't anything more serious, he had an MRI performed today, and the results didn't show anything "unexpected."

Except for the soreness, it's all great news. Besides, the only thing that Gordon appeared to injure was his groin, right after he hit the three-pointer that sent the game into its second overtime.

Weekends are a fun time in the spring. So much to do. Especially this weekend. But for those that selected Game 4 of Bulls-Celtics, you were treated to an absolute classic.

This game had everything. Huge performances from superstars, huge shots from two of the best pure shooters in the game, drama, technical fouls, flawless execution at some points and desperation shots at others. But when the dust cleared, the defending champion Celtics found themselves heading back to Boston in a tied series with the seventh seed after a double overtime loss.

And how we got there is quite a story.

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CHICAGO -- In a tough, snarling, watch-your-back kind of city, someone decided to get too cute Thursday evening. Throughout the United Center, trails of rose petals were spread to celebrate Derrick Rose's arrival as the NBA's premier rookie. They were placed on seats, in the aisles, atop the sideline tables, pretty much everywhere but on the Jordan statue.

What was this, a social gala? And didn't the marketing mopes realize that the Boston Celtics, whose demise as NBA champions was being roundly forecast, are a proud team that wouldn't take well to gimmicks and might want to make the Chicago lads slip on their own stems?

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To see "Where Amazing Happens" in these playoffs, all you need to do is watch the series between the Celtics and the Bulls.

Game 1 was the Derrick Rose show, and Game 2 featured an epic fourth quarter duel between Ray Allen and Ben Gordon, which Allen got the best of on his cold-blooded, game-winning three-pointer as time ran out.

What do these teams have in store for us in Game 3, as the series shifts to Chicago? Join me at 8PM ET for all the action, and we'll find out together.