Spit Take

Game Recap

Late in the third quarter, Pierce spit at the Cleveland bench after yelling at the Cavaliers substitutes to sit down.

Pierce had beaten James on a crossover dribble and then hit a fallaway before James answered with a long jumper. James then stole the ball from Pierce and dunked.

Pierce then confronted the Cleveland bench, leaving the game soon after to a chorus of boos from the crowd of 8,795 at Ohio State's Value City Arena. Both he and James were assessed technicals for jawing at each other.

I'll preface by saying I didn't see the game and I'm basing this off of the above statement only, but come on now. What is this? I thought we had gotten past this. I thought Paul was grown up by now. I thought trivial one-upsmanship/playground ball was beneath this man. Mostly, I find it hard to believe a grown man would resort to spitting on other grown men over a basketball game (and a preseason one at that).

If this comes from Gary or Ricky or even Tony or Marcus, I'm not quite so shocked and not nearly as embarassed. Ladies and gentlemen, your team leader and building block of our future. Acting like a child. I sure hope I'm missing something or overreacting. But I just don't like the sound of this.

Update from the Herald:

Over in the Celts' room, Pierce was the last one to approach his locker. But before he could tell his side of the story, Payton called him over in the dressing room. ``PP, let me holler at you for a hot second,'' Payton said.

When Pierce returned from the brief chat, he had decided not to offer much illumination. Asked what had gotten him fired up on the court, he said, ``Just playing basketball.''

Asked about being angry, he said, ``I'm just competing, that's all.''

On the subject of whether Celts-Cavs has grown into a rivalry, he said, ``I don't know.''

And when he was asked about spitting toward the Cleveland bench, Pierce said, ``No comment.''

Well at least SOMEONE kept their head. Who would have thought it would be Gary? Then again, he knows trouble and he knows how to handle it. Paul obviously has some learning to do.