Pierce's Minutes

[gar]

Sorry if I missed this elsewhere; but was surprised that Piece played 41 min. in game 2. There have been a number of "experts" weighing in on the nature of his knee injury. All seem to agree on two things. One that he should get an MRI and two that he needs to manage the swelling. Ok, so I understand the - do you really want to know question; but at the end of the game Pierce was a defensive liability. It is not clear to me that we would have needed his scoring if we had not given up offensive rebounds and open shots. I an not faulting Pierce on this, he was in there fighting for rebounds and gutting it out; but in a game where the bench comes up big why not give Tony Allen or Posey a shot.

[Redz]

Interesting thought.  Taking Pierce out never crossed my mind during the game and I'm guessing the same held true with Doc. 

[Atzar]

Sorry if I missed this elsewhere; but was surprised that Piece played 41 min. in game 2. There have been a number of "experts" weighing in on the nature of his knee injury. All seem to agree on two things. One that he should get an MRI and two that he needs to manage the swelling. Ok, so I understand the - do you really want to know question; but at the end of the game Pierce was a defensive liability. It is not clear to me that we would have needed his scoring if we had not given up offensive rebounds and open shots. I an not faulting Pierce on this, he was in there fighting for rebounds and gutting it out; but in a game where the bench comes up big why not give Tony Allen or Posey a shot.

Everybody was a liability - collectively as a team, they stopped playing defense.  Paul Pierce can't be expected to gather a rebound when fighting for position with Gasol and Odom.  It's unfair to pin the team's defensive meltdown on one player.

[CLeht11]

Yeah it was definitely a team defensive melt down.  It was Pierce who got that final block of the game resulting in 2 Posey foul shots.  Paul got from Point A to Point B rather quickly to block that shot, so I don't know how much of a liability he was. 

He only has to win 2 more, and then he can work on that knee.  If he rests now, he may be resting for the rest of his life - without a ring. (That was a lot of 'rests')

[threzd]

Well, up 24, despite our collapse, we could have had a lineup of Rondo/Allen/Posey/Powe/Garnett?

[wdleehi]

now is the time to play major minutes.


if Pierce can handle it, let him go.

[EJPLAYA]

Yeah it was definitely a team defensive melt down.  It was Pierce who got that final block of the game resulting in 2 Posey foul shots.  Paul got from Point A to Point B rather quickly to block that shot, so I don't know how much of a liability he was. 

He only has to win 2 more, and then he can work on that knee.  If he rests now, he may be resting for the rest of his life - without a ring. (That was a lot of 'rests')

Good point! (TP) TA would have just fouled him on that play sending him to the line for 3 easy free throws.

[sk7326]

Celts got lazy.  And the Lakers made 7 of 9 three pointers in the 4th!!!  People seem to miss this.  If the Lakers are counting on those percentages even against poor defense, that ain't gonna happen.  5 for 9 and we win by 12 and the topic is dead.  Lakers were in full scramble mode, run down the floor, take a quick shot.  They do this for 48 minutes and the Celts play decent defense, that will be a recipe for a Celtics win. 

Pierce was no more a liability than anyone else was then.  Right now, Pierce has all summer for his knee to heal -- he should play as much as possible, and his past durability and pain tolerance shows he WILL NOT significantly lose his effectiveness.

[Bahku]

Pierce was the one who finally dug-in and won that game ... I'd hate to think what would have happened if he hadn't been on the floor.

[Bankshot]

Sorry if I missed this elsewhere; but was surprised that Piece played 41 min. in game 2. There have been a number of "experts" weighing in on the nature of his knee injury. All seem to agree on two things. One that he should get an MRI and two that he needs to manage the swelling. Ok, so I understand the - do you really want to know question; but at the end of the game Pierce was a defensive liability. It is not clear to me that we would have needed his scoring if we had not given up offensive rebounds and open shots. I an not faulting Pierce on this, he was in there fighting for rebounds and gutting it out; but in a game where the bench comes up big why not give Tony Allen or Posey a shot.

How was Pierce a defensive liability when he was the one who saved the game with that block on Vulachic(sp).  He was also the one who drove to the hoop and scored when we desperately needed a bucket to stop the bleeding.  Removing Paul could have possibly meant losing the game.