We'll all be waiting anxiously for updates on Paul Pierce, but here's what we know right now. He was diagnosed with a strained right meniscus. (here's a link for "meniscus tear" which I assume is similar but not as severe) The good news is that they are not calling it a tear. It was also good to see him come back out and not just play, but play very effectively. More telling than the 2 three pointers was the tenatious defense he played on Kobe and the rest of the Lakers in the final quarter.
In fact, the effectiveness he had actually has several people questioning the "truthfulness" of the extent of the injury to begin with. Some examples:
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."
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."
The Association: "Paul Pierce was and is not hurt! He was never hurt. He bumped his knee and got wheeled off the floor."
I hesitate even to link to that last post by The Association. I seldom like to call out fellow bloggers, but that is the most pathetic piece of trash writing I've read in a long, long time.
Want the truth? Listen to The Truth: "I thought I tore something. Once I heard the pop and I couldn't move at first, I thought that was it. ... The doctor said I have a strained meniscus. We'll see how it feels tomorrow and the next day and we'll go from there."
When something pops in your knee, you don't mess around with it. You stay down and you get it looked at immediatly. There was no grandstanding here. The man was scared out of his mind that he was going to be done for the year (and he may yet be, depending on how his body reacts - you can't tell with these things). When he figured out that he could put his weight on the leg, he got some hope back.
Then obviously the adrenaline started pumping and he was ready to give it a shot. This isn't the first time we've heard of this. We've seen players play the second half of a game with a broken foot or wrist or whatever.
Paul wasn't trying to be Willis Reed or Larry Bird. He wasn't trying to be a hero. He just wanted to get back out there and help his team win, ...which he did. So the end result was that he was the hero and that's the truth. No amount of sour grapes is going to take that away.
Reports indicate that he looked pretty ginger leaving the stadium last night. He's really going to need the extra day of rest (thank you ABC) between games to recover. As usual, stay tuned here for updates when we get them. I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll be able to play on Sunday. It always helps to have another hero around when you need him.