Pierce Struggles Against The Cavs?

[Who]

Pierce has had a pretty bad season against the Cavs. He's struggled to score, struggled with his shot, has forced the play, has been prone to selfish play, has turned the ball over a lot. It hasn't been good, not up to his usual standards.

This season, Pierce has averaged 13.5ppg, 3.8rpg, 4rpg on 37% shooting and 25% from three, and added 4 turnovers a night against the Cavs.

Then I thought, nevermind, just one of those wierd things, after all Pierce has had good games against LeBron in the past. So I went back over some old box scores to reassure myself.

2006-07 - Just one game played because of injury (early season game). The one game he did play he had 19 and 9 on 28% shooting adding three turnovers.
2005-06 - Three games played. He put in 33/9/5 but he also shot 41% and had 4 turnovers a game
2004-05 - Three games played. He averaged 21/5/5 shooting 39.5% and turning the ball over 4 times a game.

So now I'm a little worried. Each year he shoots badly and turns the ball over.

LeBron is strong enough to battle with Pierce in the post, LeBron is quick enough to cover Pierce, LeBron is long enough to challenge Pierce's shot. James has also turned himself into a fine defensive player, well above average at this point, unlike previous years were he was there for the taking.

Pierce isn't exactly coming off a world beater series against the Hawks either. 18ppg on 45%. Didn't take advantage of good matchup nearly as well as we have come to expect from him. His minutes were down around 33.5mpg which is low for Pierce normally, and very low for a playoff series. Then again the C's trounced the Hawks at home four times limiting his minutes. Even in the away games he only played 36/36/35.

Maybe we don't see the Captain Pierce, Celtics scoring leader we're used to seeing.

Is there a potential issue here or not?

[Roy Hobbs]

Here are the box scores of every game Pierce and Lebron have played headed to head.  (Note that it doesn't include games where one or the other was injured).

Recently, it's fair to say that Paul has struggled a bit.  Still, while the Celtics lose the Lebron vs. Paul matchup, the Celts have advantages at pretty much everywhere else on the court, so I think they'll be fine. 

[Onslaught]

"LeBron is strong enough to battle with Pierce in the post, LeBron is quick enough to cover Pierce, LeBron is long enough to challenge Pierce's shot. James has also turned himself into a fine defensive player, well above average at this point"

Pierce is long and strong too and playing good D this year. So if he's guarding LeBron then it could slow him down as well.  And other than LeBron the Cavs don't have all that much offensive power on that team. In this series I don't think
Pierce has to be as good on the offensive end as on the defensive end. If we can just slow LBJ down a little and shut his teammates down then we'll be ok. I'd look for the other two big three to score.

[FatoineLover]

Pierce is going to have his hands full on both ends of the court this series with Lebron, so now would be a good time for Ray Allen to wake up and start playing well. They will be fine if the other 4 Celtics contribute and don't play scared like they did in Atlanta. I worry most about Garnett's willingness to take the big shot if Pierce is out of his game.   

[Who]

Okay so it's been three games and frankly Pierce has only confounded my fears. The Cavs have limited Pierce.

In three games Pierce has scored 12.3ppg on 34% shooting. He's shooting 23% from three and he's almost averaging as many turnovers (3.3 per game) as assists (3.7apg).

He had one good game in game two when he had 19 points (7-13 shooting) and 0 turnovers, only two assists. He was 3-9 on jump shots but got into the paint and a couple of occassions (4-4). For the most part they did a decent job on him but he stayed under control and took the chances when they were there, that's what I want to see.

His defense has been very good but I'm not counting on Pierce to be his usual dominating scoring force for the rest of this series. LeBron just seems to cause him too many problems. He'll still be a factor and a huge threat but I don't expect him to dominate offensively. Ray and KG need to fill that vacuum.

[shbanua]

an observation: a couple of times when pierce went to his patented dribble drive-stop-turn-kick out routine, lebron anticipated exactly what he was going to do and just snatched the ball from his grasp. perhaps his struggles are down to lebron and co. wising up that he can become pretty predictable in his drives and just anticipating what he's doing, thus putting him off. plausible, eh?

another thing: settling for threes and jumpers. this guy used to be in the 10s in FTA especially in the playoffs when he and toine were carrying this team. that's why many thought he'd complement kg was because he could go the line when the going got tough. not getting to the line enough so far. when he is driving he's finding the open guy w/ frequency so that's good. but more aggressiveness on offense.

[wdleehi]

Lebron size and speed negate Pierces two biggest strengths.


The frustration of it makes Pierce fire up more outside shots.  But he has tired legs guarding James. 

[Bankshot]

Pierce is going to have his hands full on both ends of the court this series with Lebron, so now would be a good time for Ray Allen to wake up and start playing well. They will be fine if the other 4 Celtics contribute and don't play scared like they did in Atlanta. I worry most about Garnett's willingness to take the big shot if Pierce is out of his game.   

I agree.  Lebron has played good D against Paul, the way Paul is playing good D against Lebron.  Both are shooting poorly for this series.

But I said this before. This is a series that Ray needs to dominate his matchup, since PP will have his hands full with Lebron on both ends.  I thought the Ray/Wally matchup would be won by Ray easily, but unfortunately the opposite has happened.  I think that is a huge factor in this series that could hurt the Celtics if Ray doesn't turn it around.

[Who]

another thing: settling for threes and jumpers. this guy used to be in the 10s in FTA especially in the playoffs when he and toine were carrying this team. that's why many thought he'd complement kg was because he could go the line when the going got tough.

Yeah I thought his ability to get into the paint, get to the line, get easy points .... were a big part of why he was an excellent complement for KG too.

Here's some stats: Against Atlanta Pierce averaged 5 free throw attempts per game. Against Cleveland only 4 free throw attmepts per game. He's also shooting only 74.5% from the line.
All well below his season averages (84% from the line this seasoN) and career averages, especially for the playoffs where like you said he's averaged 10 free throw attempts and on 81% shooting for his playoff career.

Pierce's lack of penetration has made the offense less diverse and easier to defend. It's also limited the number of easy points the Celtics get.

[Celtic]

Paul needs to be incorporated more into a team offense against the Cavs, when he goes 1 on 1 vs. Lebaby he really isn't doing well, he is forcing bad shots. When Paul is coming off picks at the top of key and attacking the basket he is very effective, and may actually get a foul called in game 4.