Monday Playoff Previews

There are two playoff games on the schedule for Monday night, and they're both going to be played in Detroit. For the winners, check out the top sports handicapper Joe Duffy at OffshoreInsiders.com.  Here's a look at the Pistons and Wings in your playoff gameday:

Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons, 8:30pm ET

The Pistons might have all the recent postseason experience, but they now find themselves down 2-1 to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston opened the series with an 88-79 win at home, but Detroit bounced back to knock off the Celtics 103-97 in Game 2 in Boston. Game 3 was played back in Detroit on Saturday night, with the Celtics looking to pick up their very first road victory of the playoffs. Boston roared out to a 50-32 lead at the break in that contest, and then cruised from there to the 94-80 win. Kevin Garnett led the way with 22 points and 13 rebounds for Boston on Saturday, while Ray Allen was good for 14 points. Paul Pierce had only 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the win. Richard Hamilton poured in 26 points in the loss for Detroit, Rodney Stuckey contributed 17 points off the bench, and Rasheed Wallace picked up 12 points.

Despite Boston's success on the road in Game 3 the oddsmakers still opened the Pistons as 5.5-point home favorites for Game 4. The contest's total was opened at 175.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings, 8:00pm ET

The Penguins rolled through the Eastern Conference side of the NHL playoffs, but it looks like they'll find the going tougher against the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final. Detroit got a pair of goals from Mikael Samuelsson on Saturday night as they rolled to a 4-0 win in the opening game of the championship series; Samuelsson had scored just two goals over the first three rounds of the playoffs. Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings late in the third period to secure the victory. Detroit's stifling defense allowed netminder Chris Osgood to have a relaxing evening - he had to make just 19 saves for the shutout. Pens counterpart Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 of 36 shots in the loss. Detroit forward Johan Franzen sat out Game 1 with his head injury, while veterans Chris Chelios (Wings) and Gary Roberts (Penguins) were both scratches.

The oddsmakers like the Red Wings' chances of taking a 2-0 lead in this series, as they opened as -170 home favorites for Monday night. The total for the game opened at 5.5.