Celtics center Kendrick Perkins dunks on the Pistons’ Rasheed Wallace last night.

AP / Gary Malerba

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — While they both carved out legendary careers as Connecticut Huskies, Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton aren’t exactly friends. Friendly enemies, maybe, but not friends.

Allen was a high-scoring star at UConn from 1994-96. His junior year was one of the best in coach Jim Calhoun’s career as the Huskies finished 32-3. Hamilton, however, was even better. Not only did he score more points (2,036) in his three years, but he also was the leader of the 1999 team that won the school’s first national championship with an upset of Duke in the title game.

With Allen playing the bulk of his NBA career in the Western Conference and Hamilton starring in the East with Washington and Detroit, their paths haven’t crossed much in the pros. But the two Huskies are seeing a lot of each other in this Boston-Detroit series. Allen is guarding Hamilton most of the time he’s on the floor. Hamilton made several big shots late in Game Two that helped the Pistons secure a huge win. Last night, the two battled for loose balls and Allen did a much better defensive job.

“I just want my team to beat his team and be able to move forward,” said Allen. “If it requires me lying on a grenade, that’s what it’s going to take.”

Pistons coach Flip Saunders says he notices the two UConn stars “going at it a little bit. I’m sure they want to show who’s the best from Connecticut.”

Stopping the leaks

The Celtics gave up 103 points in Game Two and were not able to clamp down on defense with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. Those breakdowns were clearly the focus of the time spent preparing for last night’s game and Boston did a great job through the first half in slowing Detroit’s offense as it built a 50-32 halftime lead.

The Celts have had to make major adjustments from the way they defended Cleveland in their last series. Coach Doc Rivers designed one trap after another to deal with the explosive scoring exploits of LeBron James. Against the Pistons, the Celtics will rarely double-team.

“The only adjustment is we’re not chasing anybody all the way to half court,” said Rivers. “It’s a different beast where they have five guys on the floor that can all score.”

Watch for Rivers to play his better defenders off the bench in this series. That will mean a heavy diet of veteran big man P.J. Brown but the lack of a shut-down defender in the backcourt could hurt the Celtics. Rivers used Sam Cassell (instead of Eddie House) as his first guard off the bench, but Cassell had real problems keeping up with Rodney Stuckey on the defensive end.

Still confident

The Celtics came into last night’s game with plenty of confidence that they could not only get a big win but also play well on the road and end their 0-6 playoff skid away from home.

“I felt the same going into Game Two or going into Game One,” said Rivers. “I like our basketball team. I’ve said it all year. You have a great confidence because of that.”

The players are excited to bounce back from a poor defensive effort in Game Two.

“It’s definitely going to take 48 minutes of hard work and concentration,” said Paul Pierce. “The thing about the road is you can’t make a lot of mistakes. You have to be almost perfect, especially in a building where they don’t take too many losses. We have to play some defense. Our defense is going to be the key to this series.”

The Pistons know they couldn’t let the opportunity to go ahead in the series slip through their hands.

“They’ve had a sense that, if you can win two games in a row, you can take control of the series,” Saunders said. “If Boston wins, they take the monkey off their back as far as not winning on the road. I don’t think there’s any question that the winner tonight will have a lot of positive emotion going forward.”

Sports towns, then and now

It’s rare for teams from the same city, in this case the Red Wings and the Pistons, to play this deep into the playoffs in both winter sports. The Celtics and Bruins almost always kept sports fans busy back when Larry Bird and Ray Bourque dominated their teams but their teams never played in the finals the same season. Back in 1974, the Celtics won the NBA title while the Bruins lost in the Cup finals. The most recent city-state to turn the double was New Jersey with the Nets and Devils in 2003.

“It shows how huge sports is in this area,” said Saunders. “It’s a great sports area and the people here are lucky to see the teams that they do.”

The Celtics are not exactly big hockey fans. Asked about the Stanley Cup Finals, Pierce said “I’m kind of pulling for the young guy, (Sidney) Crosby.”

kmcnamar@projo.com