<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OKLAHOMA CITY - Paul Pierce [stats] still had some pain in his right knee after hitting the floor in San Antonio Saturday, but he wasn?t about to miss last night?s game. ?It?s just a little sore, but you know me. I always play,? said Pierce, who suffered the bruise late in the game when Tim Duncan came down on him. Even a gimpy Pierce managed 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting (4-of-7 on 3-pointers) in the Celtics [team stats]? 106-88 loss to Hornets. The fact that Pierce has spoken recently about ending his season early is more significant than one might normally think. When it was joked that the bruise could get him out of the off-day workouts, he shook his head. ?No, I actually love practice,? he added, at which point he went into an Allen Iverson [stats] impression. ?Practice? Practice? You talkin? ?bout practice?? Doc Rivers again lauded Pierce in this regard. ?Paul?s a great veteran for a team because he rarely misses practice,? he said. ?When the best player likes to practice, it really helps the team. That?s what players like him should do, but it doesn?t always happen that way. ?He likes the game. A lot of great players like to play, but not all of them. It?s probably 50-50.? By the way, Rivers didn?t ask Pierce about this latest injury, saying, ?I learned early on that if you ask, they?ll tell you something?s wrong. If something?s wrong, they?ll come to you.? Rivers has caught some heat from fans questioning his play-calling, but at least one league stat seems to support the Celts coach - at least on that charge. Through all the lineup upheaval, the Celts came into last week with the 26th offense in the NBA, but they were 13th in points per possession coming out of timeouts. Last year, the C?s finished No. 11 on offense and were second in scoring following timeouts. The inference is that the club does well with instructions but has trouble retaining what it?s taught and making it habit. But if Rivers is going to be cut slack for leading a roster decimated by injuries and hindered by youth, the players deserve the same leeway. </div> Source
