Paul Pierce has had a very rewarding week. Pierce took home Eastern Conference Player of The Week honors last week, leading the Celtics to a 4-0 record averaging 22 ppg while dishing 6.3 apg and grabbing 5.8 rpg. Then last night against the visiting Bobcats, Pierce passed Celtic legend Larry Bird for second on the Celtics all-time scoring list, Pierce needed 10 points to pass Bird, he finished the game with 15.
“The Truth” continues to be the Celtics most important offensive option, and as Pierce’s game improves from an early season slump, not coincidentally the Celtics are playing much better as a team. The Cs are 9-1 in their last 10 and have a 14-10 record on the season. The record may be only good for 7th in the Eastern Conference, but let’s remember that this is the same team that started the season 4-8, and had Bostonians pleading for management to blow the team up.
The play of Pierce has many experts and fans wondering if he should be voted into the All-Star game which will be played in Orlando later in the month. The Pierce haters bring up his slow start, in which Pierce looked like he aged about 20 years during the offseason, but if you look deeper into the recent stats, you see a guy who is still one of the best small forwards in the Eastern Conference.
Since the January 16th loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Celtics captain has averaged 20.5 ppg and more impressively grabbed 6.1 rebounds per game while handing out 7.3 assists. Pierce’s game has mirrored that of the ’05-’06 season when Pierce was the Cs only offensive option and carried the team on his back.
The silver lining to starting point guard Rajon Rondo missing the majority of the games in this current win streak with a bad wrist is that Pierce has been forced to handle the ball more. This means the Cs offense runs through him on most of the offensive sets. This forces Pierce to become in essence the point guard, and has helped him to not only get open looks for himself, but also for his teammates.
When Rondo isn’t on the floor it is evident that Doc Rivers and the coaching staff aren’t big fans of putting the ball in Avery Bradley’s shaky hands.
When looking at the other possible forward options in the Eastern Conference who may be considered, a number of names come to mind. The Atlantic Division leading Philadelphia 76ers have an impressive small forward of their own, Andre Iguoadala. Iggy has averaged 12.8 ppg 5.2 apg and 6.0 rpg this season. These aren’t bad numbers when you realize how balanced a team the Sixers are. Unfortunately these numbers aren’t sniffing Pierce’s production and therefore Pierce should make the team over Iguoadala.
Another small forward on an impressive team is Danny Granger who is playing on an exciting Indiana Pacers team. Yet Granger is having one of the worst shooting seasons of his career, shooting 37% from the field, while averaging 18.1 ppg and 4.2 rpg. (Pierce is shooting 42% from the floor and averaging 18.4 points this season.)
These are probably the two biggest competitors for one of the forward spots on the Eastern Conference team. I am expecting Chicago’s Luol Deng to have a guaranteed spot on the team, even though he has missed a number of games due to injury. Deng is averaging 16.2 ppg and grabbing nearly 8 rebounds per game on the best team in the Eastern Conference.
So expect Pierce’s name on the All-Star list when it is announced Thursday night. The truth is the Captain deserves it over any other Celtic. Let’s hope the coaches who vote for the reserves see this as well. If Pierce is voted in by the coaches, he will be playing in his 10th career All-Star game.
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