I think it's time for Doc to sit the Captain.

[CelticG1]

You don't sit Pierce in that situation unless he can't play.

No matter how good Pietrus, Hollins, or Dooling play they ate not going to get crunch time play over KG,  Pierce, or Rondo.

Its not a Doc thing, its a normal coaching thing pretty much at every level.

Pop isn't going to play splitter over TD is Splitter is hot.

Spoelstra isn't going to play Mike Miller over dwade

Mike brown isn't going to play Barnes over Kobe.

Its easy for people to sit on a couch and make these claims but reality is you are no where near as invested in the team and don't know anything close to the amount that Doc knows about his team

[Jesus Shuttlesworth #20]

I'd agree if I was a Sixers fan.

[Celts Fan 92]

i got Pierce having a HUGE game today i think he'll be aggressive (gettin to the line) nd hopefully our shots fall today we've missed a lot of great shots in dis series

[wiley]

As wekn, all shooter go thru slumps, and in shooter land, the only ones that matter are your last 2...or 3.....this is how we measure a guy who gets hot....Ray, pp all the same...two in a row...then pull the guy...GREAT decision...pull him for a guy who hasn't hit ANY in a row..and cannot defend like peitrus has...why...because PP is injured, and is playing like he is injured...because he is injured......and a bad knee is very unreasonable to a basketball player.

Completely disagree with this.

Players are hot for halves or quarters. Not two trips down the court. If Rondo or Perkins or Big Baby hits two outside shots are they hot and should suddenly be fed the ball over and over again?

Of course not. They aren't great outside shooters. And neither is Pietrus. he's average at best and has had a bad shooting season and was on a bad shooting streak. For a player like that 2 straight shots aren't hot. Its luck.


had he hit 3-5 shots in a row from outside over an entire quarter or half, that's different but over a minute span, hitting two shots isn't being hot.

Especially over a shorter span could mean he got hot.  I would agree with you more if it were an earlier quarter in the game and Doc wanted to stick to a usual minutes pattern.  But in a game like that in the 4th quarter....you ride whatever it is you might be seeing...

Doc has seen over and over again in games that Pierce was cold in that he comes in and hits huge 4th quarter shots. He's done it in this playoff season a couple of times already.

What's more likely, Pietrus continuing to hit or Pierce heating up in the clutch?

I wasn't asking for Pietrus to play over Pierce in crunch time.  I was asking that Doc REST Pierce for 2 more minutes or so since he was, in Doc's words, not 100%, because Pietrus is a good defender, because Pietrus had shown a sign of life by hitting 2 threes.  Just a couple more minutes while the team had perked up a bit....

[j804]

You don't sit Pierce in that situation unless he can't play.

No matter how good Pietrus, Hollins, or Dooling play they ate not going to get crunch time play over KG,  Pierce, or Rondo.

Its not a Doc thing, its a normal coaching thing pretty much at every level.

Pop isn't going to play splitter over TD is Splitter is hot.

Spoelstra isn't going to play Mike Miller over dwade

Mike brown isn't going to play Barnes over Kobe.

Its easy for people to sit on a couch and make these claims but reality is you are no where near as invested in the team and don't know anything close to the amount that Doc knows about his team

Yes he would

[Senninsage]

It would be beyond stupid to sit Paul Pierce. Give Igudala some credit. His defense has been good on Pierce, and clearly Pierce's knee hasn't prevented him from making huge defensive stops, like the fast break block in game 1.

Stop overreacting just because Pierce is missing shots. He's missing wide open shots, too. I've had knee troubles before, too, worse than what Pierce is having now, and it didn't drastically affect my ability to make wide open shots, which is some of what Pierce is missing. If your knee is bothering you, then you make the necessary adjustments to ensure your shots have a better shot at going in.

[Potapenko Boxout]

You don't sit Pierce in that situation unless he can't play.

No matter how good Pietrus, Hollins, or Dooling play they ate not going to get crunch time play over KG,  Pierce, or Rondo.

Its not a Doc thing, its a normal coaching thing pretty much at every level.

Pop isn't going to play splitter over TD is Splitter is hot.

Spoelstra isn't going to play Mike Miller over dwade

Mike brown isn't going to play Barnes over Kobe.

Its easy for people to sit on a couch and make these claims but reality is you are no where near as invested in the team and don't know anything close to the amount that Doc knows about his team

Yes he would

no he wouldn't

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Well, if you look at it from a team perspective....he should have left Peitrus in there longer..at least 2 more shots longer....given the compared data points, only peitrus's side holds water...he was 2 for 2 in that time...pp made zero threes when we needed them......and pp looked hurt, and was hurt...peitrus didn't look at all hurt, AND played better D...the ONLY good thing pp did all game was block one shot. IU am not saying peitrus is better...it was just that time he was....i know what pp has done for us..but when you are hurt, and cannot play thru it, you must sit, or you are being self-centered, and hurting the team...and pp is sorta showing too much self centeredness...ray and kg are STARS also....why was pp taking the last minute shot when RAY and KG were shooting WAY better...? Are we going to be the knicks next..? Give ME the ball..no ME...no ME....

[Kane3387]

Glad he didn't 

[Senninsage]

See what I'm saying? We sit Pierce tonight, we probably lose a game we could have won.

[Celtics18]

Yes!!! My thread worked!!!!!

[Senninsage]

In all seriousness, though. Take away Pierce's contribution tonight and who knows what happens. We likely end up with a loss. My feeling is that if Pierce is out there at all, he must clearly feel that he can play well enough to help the team. And if he's out there, then there are no excuses to be made.

We expect him to help the team win the game however he can. This game and this performance tonight was much needed, if only to get the fans to realize what it is they've been saying.

[LooseCannon]

Pierce's injury seems to be the sort of thing where he really needs a few weeks of rest to really heal up, so it is probably in the team's best interest for him to play through it so long as he can perform at a level clearly better than Sasha Pavlovic.

[nickagneta]

As I said, the OP fell for the classic blunder:


Sitting Paul Pierce in the playoffs = getting into a land war in Asia = Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line

[Celtics18]

As I said, the OP fell for the classic blunder:


Sitting Paul Pierce in the playoffs = getting into a land war in Asia = Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line

. . . or, I could simply rely on the old maxim, "always rely on The Truth."  Lesson learned.