So far Paul Pierce is averaging 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in this series. Not horrible, but not great either. He also missed a critical end of game free throw and has at times looked sluggish on the court.
A blog by the name of Basketball.org went so far as to call Pierce "overrated." I'm not even going to justify that with a response but you are welcome to in the comments (keep it clean please).
Me? I think he's a little off, and maybe a little tired, but I'm far from worried about him.
Scott Souza says this about Paul:
While Paul Pierce expressed concern about Leon Powe after his ACL tear on Monday, he did not express any concern about his own offensive uneveness in the series so far.
“It’s not really bothering me, guys,” he said. “It’s about the team. I don’t go into the game thinking I need more space (to shoot). Other guys are playing well. Other guys are stepping up for us. That’s what’s big for us right now.
“You’ve got Big Baby stepping up, Rondo playing the way he’s playing, (Kendrick Perkins) Perk … I don’t really worry about that stuff - coaches finding a way to scheme for me. Over the course of this series, I’ll figure it out.”
I'm thinking we'll see a big game out of Pierce on Thursday. I can just feel it.