Is Paul Pierce really THIS bad now?

[Celticjay]

Code: [Select]

Deng just punched him in the grill tonight. HUGE mismatch.  I think you give Pietrus more minutes until Pierce shows some life.  He looks lazy, disinterested and just plain bad.  He show zero athleticism.   

He needs to pick it up in a huge way. Many times in the past he would lead the team in rebounds.  He hasn't even got off the canvas to try this year.  If Pierce was even 80% of himself we would be 6-4

[PosImpos]

I think Paul might just be pulling a Rasheed Wallace on us this season.

Showing up out of overweight, out of shape, and cocky.  He's tired of the regular season and just wants to get to the playoffs relatively healthy.

[Tgro]

If he is banged up he should not be playing. He is a HUGE negative on this team right now. HUGE

This is really sad for me to agree with but I have to agree. I think this is 3 games in a row now that Pierce has looked absolutely awful. I'd rather see him take games off to rest whatever is hurting him and/or get himself back into better condition than to play like has right now. He was hurting the team tonight. It pains me to see Pierce this way.

[lightspeed5]

garnett and pierce are playing like crap, and we're still within a couple points from winning some of these games

these games would be very close if even 1 of them had an average game.

[Who]

Not convinced this is a conditioning problem.

It looks more like an injury. That he hasn't recovered from that heel problem and that that injury is robbing his explosiveness vertically and laterally.

That Pierce came back too soon. Before he was ready.

[cman88]

Not convinced this is a conditioning problem.

It looks more like an injury. That he hasn't recovered from that heel problem and that that injury is robbing his explosiveness vertically and laterally.

That Pierce came back too soon. Before he was ready.

its a possibility....but Conditioning cant be left out it..we all know that pierce/KG were big proponents of cancelling the season and I doubt they treated the offseason the same way they always do. Doc even mentioned Rondo/allen were the only players to show up ready to roll

I just cant believe that pierce had degraded so much from last year...he was still a top SF in the league..alot of those shots he wasnt even elevating just using his arms. his legs looked dead

he IMO is the main reason we are sputtering out of the gate IMO...KG is what he is..a jumpshooter and he was last year...this team needs a big 3 in scoring..but that big 3 is Rondo/Ray allen/Pierce....right now we are only getting production out of 2 of those guys...we NEED pierce to perform the way he did last year to be successful.

if pierce can even be 85% the player he was last year we can win those close games. but right now our "closer" is actually the guy shooting us out of the game sadly

[j804]

If he is banged up he should not be playing. He is a HUGE negative on this team right now. HUGE

This is really sad for me to agree with but I have to agree. I think this is 3 games in a row now that Pierce has looked absolutely awful. I'd rather see him take games off to rest whatever is hurting him and/or get himself back into better condition than to play like has right now. He was hurting the team tonight. It pains me to see Pierce this way.

I agree sadly and it appears to be getting to his head and is messing with him mentally. Its clear he along with KG have lost all their confidence right now.

[Celtics18]

The confidence will come back when the body does.  No, Paul Pierce is not this bad.

[the_Bird]

I think Paul might just be pulling a Rasheed Wallace on us this season.

Showing up out of overweight, out of shape, and cocky.  He's tired of the regular season and just wants to get to the playoffs relatively healthy.

Disagree.

Pierce is a warrior.  I have no doubt that he's hurting right now, but he sees his team struggling, so he's desperately doing what he can do to help.  If the team was having success, he'd be on the bench, but he knows that the clock is ticking on this group; they've got to get good, fast, or Danny's going to blow it up.

Pierce being Pierce, he's going down fighting - for better or for worse.

Pierce isn't wired like 'Sheed.  If he's out of shape (and he may be), I'm going to go back to the heel injury and his inability to therefore play himself into shape.

No doubt in my mind that Pierce is physically ailing.

[Sketch5]

Code: [Select]

Deng just punched him in the grill tonight. HUGE mismatch.  I think you give Pietrus more minutes until Pierce shows some life.  He looks lazy, disinterested and just plain bad.  He show zero athleticism.   

He needs to pick it up in a huge way. Many times in the past he would lead the team in rebounds.  He hasn't even got off the canvas to try this year.  If Pierce was even 80% of himself we would be 6-4

I agree with this. Say what you want about KG being old, but he's putting in the effort trying to get into game shape by running the floor. PP has just played lazy. And when he can't finish, he yells at the Refs because he's out of shape.

Even when your out of shape you can play some D and look like your working hard. He's in cruz mode thinking he'll magically be in shape in a week or so.

 Pietus has looked better than him and he's been out with a knee injury! His Off hasn't quite been there, but his D has, and the guy doesn't even know the system yet. That means he just wants it more than Peirce does right now.

 So maybe Doc should bench him. Make him 6th man until he gets back to form.

[EJPLAYA]

Anyone else notice our run stopped once Paul came in the game?

And this is what no one wants to admit.

Except it wasn't true, given that the last Pietrus basket came on a Pierce assist. On the other hand, after Rondo was back into the game we never got closer than 6 points.

Sorry K, but it was. Just because he swung the ball around the perimeter and Pietrus hit that shot doesn't mean he was really part of the run. ANYONE on that squad can sit out behind the three point line and kick the ball around the perimeter. That was kudos to Pietrus for pulling the trigger and knocking it down, not PP. When PP started getting actually involved and driving and cutting and trying to play D we went downhill fast. He may have some heel thing slowing him down, but it's more a combo of extra weight and extra old. He was hugely responsible for us bogging down. They expect him to lead the team and except for flatfooted open 3's the guy can't do much right now.

He's shooting 36% from the field right now and that is with shooting 45% from the 3 pt line! That means everything else he is doing offensively is horribly unproductive. He has career lows in almost every single category. Its time for him to start seeing 20-25 min a game. No bog knock on the captain. He's just on the downhill side of his career and can't play at the all-star level he has for so long. He just needs to realize it and not go out like Brett Favre.

[green7]

i don't know and i really am starting to not care

Moore is a must

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6boBNo8zEuw

[JBcat]

Well, it's hard to stay in shape when you can't run with a heel problem. So it's probably a combo of getting back in shape and getting over the heel injury.  I think he will be fine soon enough.

[Celtics18]

Anyone else notice our run stopped once Paul came in the game?

And this is what no one wants to admit.

Except it wasn't true, given that the last Pietrus basket came on a Pierce assist. On the other hand, after Rondo was back into the game we never got closer than 6 points.

Sorry K, but it was. Just because he swung the ball around the perimeter and Pietrus hit that shot doesn't mean he was really part of the run. ANYONE on that squad can sit out behind the three point line and kick the ball around the perimeter. That was kudos to Pietrus for pulling the trigger and knocking it down, not PP. When PP started getting actually involved and driving and cutting and trying to play D we went downhill fast. He may have some heel thing slowing him down, but it's more a combo of extra weight and extra old. He was hugely responsible for us bogging down. They expect him to lead the team and except for flatfooted open 3's the guy can't do much right now.

He's shooting 36% from the field right now and that is with shooting 45% from the 3 pt line! That means everything else he is doing offensively is horribly unproductive. He has career lows in almost every single category. Its time for him to start seeing 20-25 min a game. No bog knock on the captain. He's just on the downhill side of his career and can't play at the all-star level he has for so long. He just needs to realize it and not go out like Brett Favre.

I've seen this before where Paul Pierce has returned from injury and taken a little while to get back in good game shape.  During those times there have been loud cries that Paul was done, as well. 

It's premature to decide that he's all washed up. 

[LarBrd33]

I'm not worried about Pierce.  He's getting his legs back.  He'll be fine.

But even if Pierce, KG and Ray are at full strength, this team still isn't deep enough to make any serious noise.