Pierce was Bird-like vs Mavs

[Redz]

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.

[Fafnir]

The favorite play of Pierce's last night was when threw himself into Dirk's airspace to draw the offensive foul.

When you stick your head that close to Dirk you know you're almost certain to get an elbow to the face, he swings them every play to clear space. Great play to put your body in harms way when the team needs a stop.

I still can't believe the didn't trap or double him...

[Donoghus]

Pierce certainly stepped it up in that fourth quarter last night.

He was zoned and knew exactly where he wanted to draw his defender and where to take his shot.  You could tell he was locked in and was gonna try everything he could do to carry that team to victory.  Last couple of minutes was great to watch.

Last night is one of those examples why Pierce has been my favorite Celtic to watch since Bird.

[cordobes]

Just watched the game and it was glorious. Great game from Pierce. It's curious, but, if I'm not mistaken, he only made a shot with JJB on him. He went off on Devean George, who, IMO, actually was defending him decently. He just kept making tough shot after tough shot.

As a side-note (and one this thread doesn't deserve), the officiating was enervating. Far worse that the one we got on the loses we had so far.

[Bankshot]

THE TRUTH!

[Hoyo de Monterrey]

The favorite play of Pierce's last night was when threw himself into Dirk's airspace to draw the offensive foul.

When you stick your head that close to Dirk you know you're almost certain to get an elbow to the face, he swings them every play to clear space. Great play to put your body in harms way when the team needs a stop.

I still can't believe the didn't trap or double him...

This part really excited me, because on the possession before, Powe was on Dirk and Dirk hit his fallaway jumper spinning to his left like he does every time. Powe looked quite overmatched, and on the very next possession, Pierce took Nowitzki and drew that offensive foul. It was like Pierce saying "**** you, Jobu, I do it myself."

[EJPLAYA]

I agree completely, but here is another blasphemous thought...

Dirk was Bird like last night as well. There were things he was doing out there that completely reminded me of Larry.

[kenmaine]

Actually, he was Pierce-like. He's that good- it's not like it's the first time he's had a fantastic performance and taken over a game.
 And no, I don't mean he's as good as Bird, but he's better than he's usually given credit for.

[ma11l]

I agree completely, but here is another blasphemous thought...

Dirk was Bird like last night as well. There were things he was doing out there that completely reminded me of Larry.

Dirk does play a game similar to Bird's.  I'm not going to go off the deep end like Cornbread and say that they're even close, but the similarities are there.  Especially when they're team is depleted and he has to carry them down the stretch.


I also agree that Pierce showed some Larry qualities last night.  Luckily for us he was just that much better than Dirk coming down the stretch.

[Rondo_is_better]

I agree completely, but here is another blasphemous thought...

Dirk was Bird like last night as well. There were things he was doing out there that completely reminded me of Larry.

Dirk was Bird-like until the end of the game. He missed 7 straight shots, and while he did hit a couple clutch shots, the way the three most key possessions was as follows:

Pierce ridiculous fadeaway

Dirk commits offensive (taken by Pierce)

Pierce hits even more ridiculous fadeaway.

When it came down to it, Pierce was the more clutch player. Truly a great performance from the captain last night; the best of the season I've seen by any player.

[kenmaine]

I agree completely, but here is another blasphemous thought...

Dirk was Bird like last night as well. There were things he was doing out there that completely reminded me of Larry.

Dirk does play a game similar to Bird's.  I'm not going to go off the deep end like Cornbread and say that they're even close, but the similarities are there.  Especially when they're team is depleted and he has to carry them down the stretch.


I also agree that Pierce showed some Larry qualities last night.  Luckily for us he was just that much better than Dirk coming down the stretch.

Gary Payton says he can't tell Bird and Nowitski apart.

[Redz]

Actually, he was Pierce-like. He's that good- it's not like it's the first time he's had a fantastic performance and taken over a game.
 And no, I don't mean he's as good as Bird, but he's better than he's usually given credit for.

Absolutely not the first time, but the way he did it was a bit unusual for him, and more Bird-like.  Bird never dazzled anyone with spinning drives to the hoop like Pierce can in the clutch.  Last night Pierce was just plain old spotting up his defender and canning J's in their eye.

[TrueGreen]

All of the above comments are why I would take Pierce as MVP over Kobe and LeBron. The latter score all the time. Pierce does it when required. When not needed he makes the players around him better by doing all the other small things. This is a quality that Bird had.

[Scalablob990]

All of the above comments are why I would take Pierce as MVP over Kobe and LeBron. The latter score all the time. Pierce does it when required. When not needed he makes the players around him better by doing all the other small things. This is a quality that Bird had.

I'm sorry, when you have a player on a team who is averaging about 30 ppg or more (LBJ/Kobe/Wade), that says something about the team automatically. Talk about Achilles heel? If LBJ or Kobe went down Cleveland or LA would go down in a heartbeat. Who's going to pick up the slack because imo their bench players are not as good as ours.

[housecall]

While watching the game in the fourth i thought of game 7 aganist the Cavs in last yrs.playoffs when Paul and Lebron went back/forth hitting shot after shot.