Paul Pierce joined his teammates yesterday afternoon for the flight to Orlando. He will have X-rays on his sore left hand today and, if all goes well, will be in uniform tonight against the Magic.
Pierce is coming off one of his more forgettable games as a Celtic, a 1-for-10, 4-point stink bomb Wednesday night against Houston. Afterward, he acknowledged the obvious, saying he was in discomfort because of two sore fingers and that he had been no factor in the 37 minutes he spent on the court.
That doesn't happen very often.
It might be a reach, but not a long one, to suggest that no player is more indispensable to his team than Pierce is to the Celtics. No, he's not an MVP candidate, mainly because the Celtics are slogging along at 20-21. But looking at the numbers, the durability, the presence, you'd be hard pressed to find a team that relies more on one individual.
Let's start with the obvious: He is the only player in the league who leads his team in scoring, rebounding, and assists. If he has an off night, like he did against Houston, or at Atlanta (4 of 16), or against New Orleans (4 of 16), the Celtics generally don't win.
In the Celtics' 20 victories, Pierce is averaging 26.4 points while shooting 45 percent from the field. He also collects an average of 8.1 rebounds in the Boston wins. In losses, he is averaging 20.3 points, but he is shooting only 37 percent. In general, he has better numbers on the road, which is not all that surprising given that the Celtics have a better road record (10-9) than home record (10-12.)
He leads all guards in rebounding and he is tied with Tracy McGrady in assists for shooting guards. He's the only player in the Eastern Conference to have been named Player of the Week more than once this season. (He got his second one for his play last week; the award came a few days after he was fined $7,500 for kicking a basketball into the stands at the end of the Orlando game.) Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves also has won the award twice this season.
OK, so he leads the loop in turnovers (and is second in turnovers per game) and sometimes the decisions are of the head-scratching variety. And, yes, his shot selection is, at times, questionable. He threw up a couple hold-your-nosers against the Rockets, including one transition trey with no teammate within 15 feet for a rebound. That's one reason he's shooting a career-low 41 percent from the field. (Another theory is he still doesn't trust his new teammates enough, but he should know by now that getting the ball to an open Jiri Welsch is a very good idea.) The turnovers are an outgrowth of his expanded and expansive on-the-court duties. You simply won't see very many possessions when he doesn't handle the ball.
And, lucky for them, he's around to handle the ball.
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