Can the Boston Celtics win with Paul Pierce?
They did Wednesday night, blowing out the Bulls with Pierce offering a quiet 17 points in limited minutes.
But can a team win with one of the elite players in the game, one who has been among the league’s top 10 scorers the last two seasons and ranked fifth before Wednesday at 28.7 points per game?
Huh?
It’s a question that was asked about Michael Jordan in his fifth season, as Pierce is now. Sure, it seems they can score anytime they want to. But does that lead to team success?
It’s a question the Celtics asked about Jordan in 1986 after he hit them with a record 63 points in a playoff game. Yet the Celtics swept M.J.’s Bulls.
Pierce was third in the NBA in scoring behind Allen Iverson and Shaquille O’Neal as Boston went to the Eastern Conference finals last season.
“It is a fine line,” he acknowledged. “I feel like the team counts on me, especially down the stretch. At the same time there’s going to be times of me being selfish down the stretch, and even though it may be for the good of the team, it may cost us because I’m not showing faith in the other players.
“It’s not that I don’t trust them. It’s just that at certain points in the game I feel like I’m in a rhythm and comfortable and it’s time for me to step up. It’s very difficult. You get in those situations where you want to carry your team. Sometimes what you think is good for the team is not always good for the team.”
Pierce was restrained early in Wednesday night’s game, sharing the ball as the Celtics took the lead against a seemingly disinterested Bulls team. Could it be that with a 2-2 start, the Bulls achieved their season goals already? Uh-oh.
As for Pierce, he’s the Celtics’ leader in assists this season, although that is deceiving–he also leads in shot attempts. The 6-foot-6-inch forward tends to dominate the ball. It’s what raised serious questions about Pierce when he played with the U.S. team in the world championships last summer.
Pierce was the high scorer and best player, but he also seemed the most selfish. He’s no Jordan, but Jordan heard the same things early in his Bulls career.
Jordan liked to say it was easier to pass if you had Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, as Larry Bird did, or James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as Magic Johnson did. He had Brad Sellers and Dave Corzine in his fifth season.
So Pierce looks around and sees Tony Battie, Eric Williams and Tony Delk in the starting lineup. And he shoots.
It earned him an exasperated benching at the end of the world championships. Pierce constantly looked off his teammates, angrily demanded the ball and questioned teammates when he didn’t get it, once getting into a shouting match on the bench with Andre Miller, who’s notably unselfish.
It was a team deteriorating into chaos, and Pierce was the leader. Of course, that game also is what got him selected.
Will he ever figure it out? Many wondered if Jordan ever would.
“I’m a competitive player,” Pierce said. “It’s not that I’m not showing confidence in my teammates. It’s what I feel I can do to help my team win.”
The issue confronts all the great scorers early in their careers and has followed Kobe Bryant in recent years. First they need to score to become a threat and to establish their reputations. Then they need to take their team somewhere.
Bryant has. Pierce has to.
“I always thought I’d be a better pro than college player,” Pierce said.
He averaged 16.4 in three years at Kansas, fewer than he’s averaged in any of his pro seasons.
“I feel I’m an elite player,” he said. “I’m confident. But I don’t know what others say.”
As the losses mounted for the U.S. team last summer, others were saying that Pierce was a destructive force. His supporters, however, say he was willing to step up on a team for which not enough players did.
“If you’re successful, nobody has anything to say,” Pierce said.
“Once you start to fail a few times and you’re losing ballgames, you open yourself up to criticism. You’re a target when you’re in this position.
“I’m one of the top players on this team. I get the credit when we win. So I’ve got to be able to take the criticism when we lose. I’m ready for it.”
But will it take the Celtics anywhere?
