BOSTON — The Pistons proved that a visiting team can win at Boston. Now they can reach the NBA Finals without having to do it again.
Richard Hamilton bounced back from a poor series opener with 25 points, and the Pistons beat the Celtics 103-97 on Thursday night, tying the Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece and seizing the home-court advantage that has meant everything to Boston.
Chauncey Billups had 19 points and seven assists for the Pistons, who host Game 3 on Saturday.
“The atmosphere’s going to be crazy,” Hamilton said. “We’re geeked about getting back to our home court. The fans are excited, and now it’s our job to take care of home court.”
Paul Pierce scored 26 points for the Celtics, who had won 15 straight at home and gone 9-0 in the playoffs. But the only number that matters now is 0-6 — their playoff road record.
“We have no choice now but to get it done on the road,” Pierce said.
Ray Allen broke out of a shooting slump with 25 points, his best performance in three months. But he was limited to about 29 1/2 minutes by foul trouble, picking up his fifth foul with 3:09 left in the third quarter after his flurry had given Boston the lead.
“I would rather be sitting here saying I can’t make a shot but we won the game,” Allen said. “I knew at some point my shot had to drop.”
Kevin Garnett had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics, who lost at home for the first time since March 24 against Phoenix. No team has reached the Finals without a road victory, and there’s no longer a chance for Boston to be the first.
Antonio McDyess scored 15 points, Tayshaun Prince had 14, and Rasheed Wallace and Rodney Stuckey scored 13 for the Pistons, who were rusty in Game 1 but found their groove in the second quarter of this one, shooting 49 percent against the NBA’s best defense.
The Pistons led 86-75 after Stuckey’s jumper with 8:05 remaining, but Allen had seven points, including his first 3-pointer since Game 5 of the second round, during a 13-4 run that cut it to 90-88 with 4:39 to play.
Later, Boston was down four and forced Detroit to call time with the shot clock about to run out, but then blew the defensive assignment and left Billups alone for a layup on the inbounds, and Detroit led 100-94 with 18 seconds left.
“One thing I told Chaunce, you ain’t got to be overaggressive out there,” Hamilton said. “You can take your time and be the captain of our ship, and we’ll try to do a good job of helping you out.”
Another 3 by Allen cut it to three, but Wallace hit a free throw on the other end. The Pistons were 28-of-32 (87.5 percent) from the line.
