LA Times: “Call it the Fake N’Shake. The Celtics won Game 1, 98-88, on the momentum of a recovery that smacked more of professional wrestling than professional basketball.” [/quote]

I had no idea we needed momentum…AT HOME. When Pierce went out, the crowd lost a bit of enthusiasm, so I can`t see where we benefitted. And the NBA turned into the WWE the moment Pau Gasol was traded for Kwame “I don`t need game” Brown.

[quote]Fanhouse: “But was the situation just a tad overblown? I’d have to say yes. And not because of anything Pierce did. It was everything surrounding the moment (and maybe a few things Pierce said) that lapsed into histrionics.”

You think that the situation, our emotions were overblown? It´s the NBA finals, for crying out loud. Celtics – Lakers. After 20 years…Overblown??? If you´d rather see a Spurs – Cavs finals, you`re the niority.

Of course he was hurt. There´s simply no reason why the Hero, Captain aaaaand the Truth should leave his first NBA finals ever for a faked injury…

These accusations are pathetic.

oops, I wanted to say

“…you´re in the minority.”

I am pretty shocked by the accusations of faking a hurt knee. For those of us who have watched Pierce through the years and can attest to his toughness and resilience, especially in the face of injury (knifed, ballooned elbow, etc.), we know he was not faking anything, and we also were not surprised to see him suck it up. That is what he has always done. The guy is as tough as they come, and for all his occasional immature moments, no one who has followed his career would every accuse him of faking drama to get attention.

Phil Jackson says the dummest things sometimes, and last night was another example.

I think Pierce will play… He is awesome, and I agree he is a warrior. I don’t understand why the media and Phil Jackson have to always throw mud on people. Pierce deserves a lot of credit. He will play no matter what on Sunday.

I tore my meniscus in high school several days before the first round of the state baseball playoffs. The trainer told me I would need surgery, but I didn’t mention it to anyone because there was no way I was missing the playoffs. My mobility was limited for a couple of days, but then I forgot about the injury. I never had surgery and haven’t had any complications.

Now, I was 16 at the time, so my body was a bit more resilient than a 30-something Pierce’s is likely to be, but if it is a strained meniscus, he should be ok by game 3 in a worst case scenario. I would think game 2 is a likelihood.

put a brace on pp’s knee. we need him now and later and much later. he is not a crybaby and the team has too much invested in him to put him in danger. i am scared that he’s done some damage and await the press releases.that being said, he played his heart out and the team showed resiliency. also i hope the perkolator will be able to give more than 60%.

Sounds like the Lakers and LA media are scared and hiding behind a ridiculous excuse because Lakers may not be so unbeatable. I remember they started calling the Kings ‘queens’ when they complained about reffing one year in the playoffs. What should the Lakers be called now? Talk about whining. LOL

If the Lakers were so good as they had us believe then this should not have affected by this. Accusing someone of faking an injury is low class and wrong.

correction: they should not have been affected by this.

These comments are ridiculous….Michelle Tafoya was reporting that Pierce kept asking to try to put weight on it and the trainers kept saying no. In this case the training staff was being overly careful since it was a knee injury. People are just idiots!

Basically these guys don’t know how a sprain effects you. You can do a great deal after the initial pain leaves you. I once played an entire doubleheader of softball at second base after severely spraining my shoulder early in the first game. I just couldn’t extend my arm quite as far.
The real problem is the next day, I couldn’t get out of bed without help. Pierce of course will be iced down better with anti-inflamatories so he might be in better condition than I was after a few ways. The point is that you can do a lot of things on the day of the sprain and you aren’t faking the intial injury.

Aaaaaaaaa MY KNEE!!! I’M PARALYZED FOR LIFE!!! GET A WHEELCHAIR!!… huh, nevermind. Guess I just stubbed my toe.

As soon as The New Willis Reed went down, I said he was faking it. However, when he was rolled off in a wheelchair even I was fooled, thinking it must have been a serious injury…. and then five minutes later he’s running back onto the court. Dwayne Wade may have been a flopper, but he wasn’t rolled off the court in a wheelchair until he was actually, you know… “injured”.

Casperian got it right: If Lakers fans want to explore consipracy theories, they don’t need to look any further than Chris Wallace handing them Pau Gasol a few months after his former boss in Memphis, Jerry West, rejoined the Lakers. I hire you, you find a way to give me Gasol.

You can point out many flaws in Pierce’s game through the years but he has always been durable and tough as nails. This Willis Reed analogy doesn’t work. That was a game seven. There wasn’t as much at stake last night. Perk better get that ankle back in shape. PJ won’t be able to play that many minutes again.

BTW, one of the biggest if not biggest flopper whiner was Vlade Divac. Even Lakers fans can’t argue that point.

oh yeah go_lakers? just read the article on his injury.. didnt u get the clue when he chose not to attack? when doc sat him too long in the 4th? your just bitter coz ur team lost and ur “best player” got defended by a man on 1 leg

LA Cant Handle the M#%@&! Truth… Game Wise and Theatrical Wise.

Why in the world would he take himself out of a game by faking an injury when he had just started to heat up and the team had such a good start to the 2nd half?

Hey, this is a new one: talk about being soft defensively, the only thing it takes to turn the momentum against LA is a knee sprain! If that’s the case, sign up someone else for game 2!

I think the ‘hero’ aspect is being overblown. Courageous effort though, but not THE reason they won the game.

They are just bitter

I’ve had a torn meniscus before – not a good situation if it happens in the wrong place. Does anyone out there know what a “sprained meniscus” is like? Knee injuries are so unpredictable. He oculd be fine tomorrow or be out for the rest of the finals – seeing him out there in the second half bodes well though.

i hope the lakers fans are right and he was faking it (improbable as that would be). i mean a healthy pierce is better then an injured pierce.

I don’t recall the refs stopping the game and declaring the Celtics the winner when Pierce returned. If Lakers can’t deal with it not the Celtics fault. They executed and won the game at the end. Lakers did not—end of story. Lakers have nobody to blame but themselves to blame anything else makes them look foolish and look like a bunch of whiners.

Here’s a little bit on the guy from “The Association”:

I grew up a full-blow Celtics fan in the 80’s. Yes, I’m on my eighth season as a Lakers season ticket holder and I hated the Magic-led squad. One of my top-five teams of all time were the 86-87 Celtics. They were gritty, old and broken but they found ways to dig deep from within and get back to the Finals to defend their crown. I remember Bird’s missed three at the buzzer right after Magic’s g****** Junior Skyhook in Game 4. So does the wall that I punched and the broken remote. Anyway, as a kid who just moved out to LA from Chicago in 1986 I caught a lot of s*** at school because I backed the C’s. The Celtics dimmed in the 90’s and Phil Jackson coming to LA caused Brett and me to buy season tickets in 1999-00, the first season at Staples Center. Somewhere in the middle of that season I went from distant observer to passionate Lakers fan.

Now, I sure ain’t taking criticism or commentary, or anything, from someone who upped and switched from a Celtics fan to a Laker fan at any point in their life, especially when the Celtics “dimmed” and the Lakers hire Jackson and seem on the cusp of winning. That goes against every aspect of integrity in being a fan of a team. Can’t say I’d want a fairweather bandwagon jumper rooting for the Celtics, and perhaps this adds a little perspective on that ludicrous post.

Sorry, in the above the middle paragraph, “I grew up…Lakers fan” was supposed to be a quote. It’s from Craig at The Association who wrote the entry quoted in the article. My HTML skills are non-existant.

The medical staff knows best and they made and will make the best decisions for Paul.

Just weighing in about this as a few others have. I tore the meniscus in my right knee some 15 years ago. I couldn’t even play softball for about five weeks, never mind basketball. Now, I don’t know what exactly a “sprained” meniscus is, but I have to assume it’s not as hideous. In a tear, the cartilage jams the knee, often resulting in not being able to straighten the leg at all, That’s what happened to me. I ended up getting arthro, it’s fine now (aside from an occasional click when bone meets bone.) Whether any of that applies to a sprain, I don’t know.

Enough medicine. Anybody who truly believes that Pierce faked an injury is delusional, demented, or just plain stupid. It makes no sense whatsoever. For the L. A. Times to print such garbage speaks volumes about that rag.

At the risk of being booted, I agree with everything people have said in here. There was no faking yesterday. The proper precautions were taken. Paul has proven to be one tough dude over his career. He showed that again yesterday.

To say he has no history of faking an injury; and/or not playing in games when he can play is inaccurate. So it’s not like the other side of the argument completely lacks credibility.

People conveniently forget last season when Paul sat out the last 11 games with a phantom injury. We all know why he did it. But it’s not like Paul or the Celtics management has never done something like this before.

In my opinion, the silly analogys to Willis Reed brought forth by VanGundy and the ABC crew probably added unnecessary fuel to the conspiracy theory put forth by the “reporters” and blogger.

Just go out there and do what you guys do best and get the next three-it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks

How do you know for sure he ‘faked’ injury last year? edical proof please?

Even IF he faked the injury ( which is just not true ) bottom line is. THE CELTICS WON THE GAME!! Sure they crowd got all pumped when that happened but the crowd wasn’t the one taking the shots or playing defense. It was the team. It is VERY, VERY saaaaaad, that the Lakers got soo effected but a “fake injury”. Kobe SUDDENLY started missing shots and it’s all PP’s fault!! Well, I guess the Lakers need to learn how to FOCUS!!

Just stupid..honestly.

medical, i mean

Ok… Firstly the kneejerk reaction of “sheesh… if it’s Lakers fan, it’s evil!” is at best a little comical.

And guys, as a Lakers fan, I do believe that Paul Pierce was injured.
But not seriously.

I guess we’ll see: if it was serious, then he won’t be in game 2.
Additionally, no matter what Paul wanted, if it was serious, there’s no way the medical staff would let him take the court. And no neoprene sleeve would make a difference.

I don’t believe it was planned, or a set up. That’d be pretty jaded, pretty cynical. My initial reaction was pretty negative (“you are effin’ KIDDING me!”), but having had a night’s sleep on it, less so.
I do believe that both Pierce and the med-staff over-reacted hugely, to the point of where it verged on histrionics from both.
I mean… a wheelchair? And then be ok enough to play mere minutes later?
What is he, a European soccer player?

yeah right, and you guys forgot that kareem made a similar move before.. he injured himself but he finished the game.. only after the game did they realize the actual severity of the injury

you just cant accept the fact that no matter what, the celtics won.. they played hard and it showed who wanted it most.. lakers werent even willing to dive for a loseball

Way too big a deal was made of it by everyone

Pierce and the trainers were ultra precautious. Within a minute he was standing in the locker room. Moments later he was jogging back onto the court. He played great defense and very good defense for the rest of the game.

He was never injured. He thought he might be. Never injured. Did he pick up a knock? Sure. In pain? Yeah. This is the playoffs, who the heck doesn’t deal with with some pain? He wasn’t injured.

Oh and that “He faked the injury” is ridiculous.

Perhaps Pierce should have waited 10 or 15 more minutes in the
locker room so boors like Phil Jackson and go_lakers wouldn’t be whining about Pierce and his knee. It is always nicer to beat people like that. And that guy who switched from being a Cs fan to a Laker “follower” can’t be too bright admitting it on this blog. A classic front runner. Yeesh!

I don’t think that anyone can argue the fact that the Celtics out played the Lakers in Game 1. They were more physical, winning the battle in the paint with more points, rebounds and the bench was more effective than the Lakers. That being said I don’t think most knowledgeable Lakers fans are even talking about Pierce faking an injury. What affect would that have had on the outcome anyway? You can read the 100 post game comments at http://www.forumblueandgold.com where the only time the word “fake” comes up is talking about how the Celtics did not bite on Kobe’s head fakes.

That being said, I think that all of the skeptics, Cynics, and conspiracy theorists, including Phil Jackson’s jabs (lol) would have been present if instead of Pierce it were Rondo, Sasha, Kobe, KG or any other player in the NBA. I mean come on, who wasn’t surprised to see Pierce skipping down the walk way a mere 3 minutes after he was in a wheel chair?

BTW this is a die hard Lakers fan and I just want everyone to know that Phil usually gives his bench a lot more rope and they are very effective. That in combination with Lamar and Pau’s lack of aggression, not to mention Kobe’s poor shooting night, shows that this was far from what the Lakers are capable of producing. It was a hard fought, close game and the home team prevailed. This is a great, evenly matched series and I look forward to another close battle on Sunday, hopefully with a different result from the last game. Go Lakers!

Pouting Paulie faking an injury is nothing new. Remember that ridiculous wrap he had on his head “back in the day”? Just another stunt by PP….Pouting Paulie…..

you just cant accept the fact that no matter what, the celtics won..

Ummm… RYa? Point out to me where I stated that?
Don’t bother… anyone who uses ‘ur’ and ‘coz’ with such frequency probably isn’t overly aware of much at all.

The Celtics deserved to win. Clearly. They were the better team from the get-go.
But I must admit that I’m not overly bothered by it – it’s game 1, on the C’s home-court… and even tho’ the Lakers played like absolute shyte, they didn’t lose by much at all.