eastern conference finals

Flip Saunders was fired as Detroit Pistons coach Tuesday, four days after his team was eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Detroit Pistons say Flip Saunders won't be back next season after leading the team to three straight appearances in the Eastern Conference finals.

President of basketball operations Joe Dumars said Tuesday a change is necessary despite Saunders' successes. In his three seasons, the Pistons were 176-70 in the regular season and 30-21 in the postseason, but they lost in the conference finals each...

The Detroit Pistons have fired coach Flip Saunders after three failed trips to the NBA's Eastern Conference finals in his three seasons, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers says Tony Allen might not be back from an injury to guard Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant when the NBA finals begin Thursday night.

"It doesn't look good," Rivers said after practice on Monday. "He couldn't get through even the walkthrough portion." Allen had some success against Bryant in the regular season, but the Celtics guard injured his Achilles tendon in a post-practice pickup game during the Eastern Conference finals and hasn't played since.

Boston got past an old nemesis to set up a matchup with another rival.

Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Ray Allen had 17 and Kevin Garnett added 16 to lift the Celtics to an 89-81 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, undoubtedly, is what keeps Jiang Heping up at night. On Wednesday, Jiang, the executive director of China's state television station, announced that the NBA playoffs -- not all sports, mind you, but particularly the NBA playoffs -- were being taken off the air because they are "not in accordance with the atmosphere of the nation after the devastation of the [Sichuan] earthquake.

They are too entertaining."

The Detroit Pistons attempt to stave off elimination, as they welcome the Boston Celtics tonight to The Palace of Auburn Hills for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Flip Saunders doesn't sound like a coach worried about his future. The Boston Celtics won Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, pushing the Detroit Pistons to the brink of elimination and a possible shake up.

Saunders has already outlasted his predecessors, Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle, both of whom lasted just two years.