The Detroit Pistons waited and waited tonight. They played half-court offense. They
didn't force the ball inside against the Robert Parish-less Boston Celtics. And they had the
Silverdome crowd of 28,383 more than a little apprehensive, leading by just a single point
heading into the fourth quarter with Larry Bird shooting fire. 

But Detroit scored 10 straight points to start the fourth quarter and broke away for a
113-105 victory over the Celtics to tie the series at three games each and force a deciding
Game 7 on Saturday afternoon at Boston Garden, where the Pistons have lost 17 straight. 

Bird scored 35 points to keep Boston in contention most of the night. But he was not
enough to counteract Adrian Dantley and Vinnie Johnson, each of whom scored 24 points
for the Pistons. 

By the time Game 7 comes around, Boston will have the employ of Coach K.C. Jones and
center Parish. Jones was in San Francisco for his mother's funeral; Parish was suspended
by the NBA for punching Detroit center Bill Laimbeer in Game 5. 

It was obvious that Parish could have helped the Celtics tonight. After trailing, 84-83, to
start the fourth quarter, Boston missed jumper after jumper from the perimeter. The Celtics
had no inside post-up game without Parish. And the guards were ice cold. 

Dennis Johnson missed 14 of 17 shots from the field and Danny Ainge missed 12 of 18.
The Celtics' errant shots not only killed their offense, it allowed Detroit to rebound and
start the fast breaks it had been unable to unleash the first three quarters. 

"Boston was playing great the first three quarters, shooting great and playing great
defense," Vinnie Johnson said. "You can't run the fast break if you have to keep taking the
ball out of the nets. And Bird was unstoppable." 

But Boston couldn't put the ball in the net at all for a three-minute span to start the fourth
quarter that decided the game. 

With Detroit ahead by one going into the fourth, Vinnie Johnson hit a jumper for 86-83.
After Ainge missed for Boston, Isiah Thomas came down with a jumper from the foul line
that made it 88-83, the Pistons' biggest lead of the game at the time. 

The Celtics called time out 50 seconds into the fourth quarter to set up a play for Bird. But
he missed, and Johnson came back for another jumper that made it 90-83. "We needed a
basket right then," Bird said. "If we had gotten one, everything would have been all right, I
think. But we couldn't get it." 

Dennis Johnson missed badly on a five-footer, and the Pistons took full control when
Thomas sent a two-handed , 15-foot bounce pass to Dennis Rodman for a jam. 

Trailing, 92-83, the Celtics called time again, with 9:16 to play. But Vinnie Johnson made
another jumper, putting the Pistons up 11, and by the time Boston finally scored on a
goaltending call, the game was essentially over. 

Johnson, who hit nine of 15 shots and led Detroit's 57 percent shooting assault, said, "The
crowd got into it at that point; we got pumped, and we made some great plays, offensively.
I really think that took some juice out of them." 

Ainge said, "They started running, and everything was working. We had done a pretty
good job of keeping them out of that running game. Until that stretch. We missed shots,
and that decided it. The thing was, I thought we were in pretty good shape heading into the
fourth quarter." 

Dennis Johnson, with the benefit of hindsight, said he thought he and his teammates should
have been shooting fewer jumpers and driving to the basket more. 

Bird said he thought the Celtics went to "too many isolation plays" as they did in Games 3
and 4 when the Pistons won blowouts. 

And all the Celtics agreed that three first-quarter fouls against forward Darren Daye (who
started in place of Parish, with Kevin McHale moving to center), three first-half fouls
against Bird and four against Fred Roberts changed the way Boston had to play. 

It was no coincidence that all three of those Celtics tried to guard Dantley in the first half.
"Every time Dantley touched the ball, they blew a whistle," Ainge said. 

Dantley scored 23 of his points in the first three quarters, then rested in the fourth when the
younger Pistons -- Rodman (three for three from the field) and John Salley -- ran up and
down the court, jamming and hitting pull-up jumpers. 

The other ingredient necessary for a successful running game is good rebounding, and
Detroit held a 49-36 advantage over Boston. 

Rick Mahorn had 18 rebounds, five offensive. "There was about a six-minute stretch [of
the second half] where I thought Rick just dominated the game," Thomas said. 

The Pistons came into the game looking to get at least three players into gear offensively,
and that's just what happened. Dantley carried the team early, even though he hit only 10
of 17 foul shots; and Johnson carried the load late, with Thomas lending a steady hand
from tipoff to final buzzer (21 points, nine assists, five rebounds). 

The only game that counts now is Game 7 on Saturday. Boston, in the Garden, is 12-2 in
Game 7s. The Pistons have played in one Game 7 and lost it to the Chicago Bulls in 1974. 

Detroit's drought in the Garden began in December 1982. 

Assistant coach Jimmy Rogers, who ran the team tonight in Jones' absence, likes his team's
position. "If we have to be playing a seventh game, let's play it on the parquet," he said.
"That's what we've worked so hard all year for: to keep the home court advantage."