Pierce and the Wheelchair

[indeedproceed]

That said theres no way you can Pierce a flopper, yes he's a master at initiating contact and one of the best at it, but dont fault him for that. Floppers are Verejao, Zaza, Kirilenko etc

lol all your floppers are foreign.

Pierce flops pretty frequently. He also goes to the ft line pretty frequently and we've been winning playoff games pretty frequently...so I'm cool with it.

But he does flop.

[Vermont Green]

I am a total Celtics fan and a big fan of PP but the wheelchair thing, the way it turned out, is defitely something that other fans are going to make fun of.  Let's face it, Pierce does have, shall we say, a flair for the dramatic.  It is part of what makes him such a star, particularly at those big moments.  Remember the head bandage after the Indiana playoff game?  That is another example.

None of the drama stuff takes anything away from the fact that Pierce is a very tough player.  He is not quite the athlete that MJ was but he is otherwise very similar.  At those key points in games, he can just will himself to make the needed play (most times) be it a rebound, defense, grabbing a loose ball off a jump ball, what ever and of course many times it is a big shot.

I say let the Lakers have their fun with the whole wheelchair thing but hopefully we will get the last laugh again.

[Roy Hobbs]

I saw an article on "selling fouls" in ESPN Mag recently, and they were interviewing NBA players regarding who was best at selling fouls and getting to the line.  The names that came up most often were Pierce, Kobe, and Durant.

Paul is definitely a bit of an actor at times, but he also gets hit a ton going to the hoop, and often he doesn't get the calls he should.

[Rondo_is_better]

The wheelchair complaints are just the only thing for laker fans and celtic haters to grab onto and criticize -- otherwise, all 2008 amounts to is a complete and utter destruction of a soft, inferior team. They have to salvage their egos.

[greg683x]

To answer the question whether he's a warrior or a flopper, I think he's a warrior.

But really it's an opinionated question, people will always believe what they want to believe, especially in regard to the wheelchair incident.

IMO, I think it was IndeedProceed that said it, he's a flailer, not a flopper.   I think when Pierce gets bumped, instead of absorbing the contact he exaggerates it.  Why should he try to hide the foul, or not get the whistle blown bc hes got a big enough body to absorb the contact.

Even though theyre both kind of the same, Ive never looked at Pierce in that regard.  His game has always been centered around taking advantage of the rules of basketball in regards to what the defenders are allowed and not allowed to do, so he can get to the charity stripe and get free points.  To me, thats smart basketball. 

[vinnie]

I like to think of the captain as an overreactor rather than a flopper. I think that Pierce often believes he is hurt worse than he is and thus spends more time on the floor on in a wheel chair or whatever. I think, however, he then realizes that things are not as bad as they seem and he is able to play. There is no way he lays on the ground or gets in the wheel chair because he is an actor or is trying to milk the situation. I really think he simply overreacts to injuries when they initially happen.

[Zjay]

Pierce was a serious gamer. He can do the best that he can. However, I think that they suffered an injury but not too much. If he got in wheelchair, he was only tired at game 2.