Pierce was Bird-like vs Mavs

[xmuscularghandix]

After going to bed at the half, I dragged my tired, but unable to sleep, self out of bed to catch the final 9 minutes last night.  What I saw from the Captain was an incredibly Bird-like performance. 

What was so Bird-like you ask?

1) Pierce took over in the 4th when the team needed him to.
2) He did so, not by blowing by his defender, but by capitalizing on mismatches and just plain shooting over his defender.
3) He continued to do so until the opponent proved they could stop him (which they never did).
4) He delivered by making shot after shot in the clutch
5) He led a team to a win in a situation where it might have been easy to mail it in.

I couldn't believe the Mavs kept geting lost in horrible mismatches on Pierce (Barrea on Pierce  )...To the Celts and Pierce's credit they had no qualms with playing an appropriately "selfish" brand of ball down the stretch. 

It's rare to see Pierce have the type of matchup advantage that Larry so regularly took advantage at the "small" forward position.  Normally Pierce takes over by blowing by guys, getting fouled, and going to the line. I loved watching him just shoot it right over the defender with the utmost of confidence - like Larry.

i agree with you 97% (and a TP for reading my mind on those points)

but i disagree with you when you say that we rarely take advantage of these mismatches, we do it in almost all clutch situations, the hawks game-winner they did the switch so that horford would guard him (we know how that ended). but i think they stuck with it so hard becuase Tom Thibs was coaching, Doc wouldn't have wanted them to run the Michael Jordan style one-on-one basketsball, he would have wanted ball movement. But i think that this is the type of thing that we need to do with our best player in the clutch. 

[cornbreadsmart]

remember  when people were on pierce for frowning too much? hahahaha

[Andrew Celtic Nation]

Yeah, we seem to run that high pick with Pierce and Rondo to create the mismatch and isolate a lot. As a Paul Pierce fan I love when we do it as he is so good at working his man and freeing himself for the shot.

[Carhole]

remember  when people were on pierce for frowning too much? hahahaha

Nothing to say, but give you a tp.....loved the post! how times have changed

[LB3533]

Last night against Dallas is how Pierce "used to play" every night at the tail end of the 2000-2001 season and through out 2001-2003.

Back then, it seemed every night, Pierce needed to be "Mr. Clutch" or "Mr. 4th Quarter".

[Andrew Celtic Nation]

Last night against Dallas is how Pierce "used to play" every night at the tail end of the 2000-2001 season and through out 2001-2003.

Back then, it seemed every night, Pierce needed to be "Mr. Clutch" or "Mr. 4th Quarter".

Except other teams weren't forced to play him straight up and could send a ton of help to force him into turnovers and passes.