Paul Pierce rounding into form

January 17, 2012|By Gary Dzen, Globe Staff

By Gary Dzen, Globe Staff

Celtics forward Paul Pierce has struggled to find his game after missing training camp and the first three games of the season, but he had arguably his best game of the season tonight against the Thunder. Pierce had 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting in 38 minutes, and he got the Celtics back into the game early in the third quarter.

"He’s getting it," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "You can see it; it’s coming. You know, I thought he went on a stretch where he tried to do too much with the ball. And those were turnovers. But I thought he fought Durant. I thought he looked so much better offensively."

Pierce had three turnovers (Kevin Garnett had five), but he was more aggressive going to the basket against Oklahoma City, and he was more decisive with the ball in the second half after passing up several shots in the first.

“You know I’m starting to get my legs, my basketball shape," said Pierce. "I can feel it every game as I’m getting closer to just getting sharper, sharper out there and getting my time and things like that. Understanding where to be, where to cut and stuff like that. I feel it coming.”

Pierce, like most of his teammates, said he isn't discouraged about the Celtics' five-game losing streak, their longest since Allan Ray -- not Ray Allen -- was the starting shooting guard.

“At the end of the day, none of us like to lose, that’s the frustrating part," said Pierce. "From every win you can take some positives and from losses you can take some positives. I think I like where we are headed, there are just little things that are really killing us. The turnovers, obviously if we can just clean that up, if we can keep teams out of transition and control that a little bit better, we’ll be great. But you have to go out there and do it.”