Pistons Can’t Hope to Beat Celtics If Spark Plug Thomas keeps Misfiring

Who were those guys in Detroit Piston uniforms in Game 1? Will the real team be back? Will the Boston Celtics care?

The Celtics have a 1-0 lead going into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight. The Pistons were so bad in the opener, Coach Chuck Daly wondered if he dared view the videotape. He took the gutty route and watched it.

Isiah Thomas was 6 for 24 in that game, and 6 for 23 in the last game of the Atlanta series. The suspicion is he’s taking too much on himself, but how to make him stop?

“Isiah’s such a competitor, he tries to have a hand in everything the club does,” Daly said Wednesday. “He runs the floor, shoots, rebounds, runs around on defense. I’d just like him to let the game come to him a little bit.

“But it’s hard to dictate to a great player, the Birds and the Magics. Larry Bird was 7 for 22 and they’re not going to say, ‘Rein it in.’

“Isiah will come back. He always has. He better. He’s kept me working a long time.”

The Pistons have some problems on offense in a matchup with Boston. Most of their points come 1) from out on the floor, 2) from their guards, who are short and have to go in against Boston’s 7-0, 6-11, 6-9 front line, and 3) from their one post-up player, Adrian Dantley, who is no giant, himself.

Dantley is listed at 6-5, but Daly says he’s really “6-foot-question mark.”

Isiah wasn’t the only cold Piston. Joe Dumars started making 5 of 6 shots, then went 0 for 4 and stopped shooting. Bill Laimbeer was 1 for 8 from the perimeter.

The Pistons have another problem: 15 straight losses in Boston Garden.

Bird is shooting 39% for his last four games and 31% for his last four second halves.

What, him tired?

No way (he says).

Bird: “I felt comfortable shooting the ball. They just didn’t look good after they left my hand.”

Bird, being Bird, has not exactly been a burden to his teammates, having averaged 12 rebounds and 9 assists in the four games.

Add Bird: Asked repeatedly for his reaction to Magic Johnson’s MVP award, which ended his own streak at three, he was unfailingly gracious.

“He deserves it,” he told a Boston TV station.

Then, laughing: “But to me, he’s still the second-best player in the league.”

How hurt are the Celtics?

“I think they’re lying,” said Thomas, “flat-out lying. I don’t think they’re tired or hurt.”

Why does he think Danny Ainge missed Game 1, dramatic effect? Ainge has what the Celtics allege to be a sprained knee and is still doubtful for tonight.

How tired are the Celtics?

“I wish people would forget about that and stop saying it’s a factor,” Daly said. “It’s not a factor. They play a tempo game, not one with bursts of energy. I’ve said before, if you run in straight lines and play from your head, it makes it a lot easier.”

Of course, if your team plays well against them, it makes it a lot harder.

The Pistons adhere to the new defensive vogue taught by assistant Ron Rothstein, who came over this season from Mike Fratello’s Hawk staff: They double-team in the low post immediately and dare opponents to beat them from outside.

In Game 1, they held Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to 20 shots. Of course, Parish (10-12) and McHale (7-8) made 17.

“Eight shots,” McHale marveled. “They’re crying in Hibbing.”

McHale comes from Hibbing, Minn. When Bird is held to a few shots, he likes to say, “They’re crying in French Lick.”

If McHale and Parish hit another 17 of 20, they’re going to be inconsolable in Motown.