Kevin Garnett led the Boston Celtics to their first win on the road in the playoffs Saturday, beating the Detroit Pistons 94-80 to take a 2-1 series lead in the NBA's Eastern Conference finals. Garnett scored 22 points, and had plenty of help. He was one of six players to make the Celtics' first six baskets, helping them build the first of many big leads en route to victory. The NBA's top-seeded team had lost its first six road games - tying a league record _ and was 9-0 at home until losing to Detroit in the previous game. “We took care of business, getting our first win on the road,” Garnett said. The Pistons will host Game 4 on Monday. “They got home court back,” Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. “Monday is a crucial game for us _ the biggest of the year.” Detroit rallied to pull within 87-78 but couldn't get closer in a game in which it trailed by as many as 24 points. “We didn't come out and play. That's it, point blank,” Pistons rookie reserve Rodney Stuckey said. “We didn't give no effort at all at the start of the game, and you can't do that against a team like that.” Boston's Big Three scored as much as its supporting cast. Garnett, Ray Allen (14) and Paul Pierce (11) combined for 47 points to match the rest of the team. “Their role players really hurt us,” Saunders said. Richard Hamilton scored 26 points to lead the Pistons. Boston, which scored the first 11 points, led 50-32 after holding Detroit to a playoff-low in the first half and getting at least two points from each of the nine Celtics who played. “The main concentration was to come out aggressive and get the lead early,” Pierce said. The Pistons pulled within 13 early in the second half only to have their comeback hopes dashed by the Celtics' 12-0 run. Besides making shots and playing tough defense, the Celtics beat Detroit to a lot of loose balls and offensive rebounds. “They came out aggressive and we missed some shots,” Saunders said. “We're the type of team, the way we play, we try to grind it out. It's tough to play from behind like that.” The Pistons' loss put a damper on an unprecedented night in sports. The Motor City became the first metropolitan area to host a NHL Stanley Cup finals game and an NBA conference finals game on the same day, according to STATS LLC, and Detroit also hosted Minnesota in baseball at the same time as the other two games. The crowd cheered when the videoboards showed _ Red Wings 4, Penguins 0 _ then got even louder when they displayed another score: Tigers 19, Twins 3.
