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["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Pierce draws line to spark late surge

The NBA/by Mark Murphy
Sunday, April 20, 2003








INDIANAPOLIS - He may not have been George Karl's cup of tea last summer
during the World Championships in this very same building, but Paul Pierce
made Conseco Fieldhouse the site of his own passion play yesterday.




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The Celtics co-captain shot 8-of-24 from the floor - a stat that probably
would have pasted a self-satisfied smirk on the former U.S. national coach's
face. All of those misses were also about as relevant to Pierce's performance
as the Easter Bunny.

Pierce, in setting the NBA playoff record for made free throws, broke serve on
the Pacers with yesterday's 103-100 Celtics win.

Never mind that he had trouble even getting close over the first three
quarters. None of those front-rimmers or roll-outs were going to keep him from
driving even harder in the fourth quarter.

The Pacers obliged by repeatedly knocking Pierce to the floor, thus sending
him to the line down the stretch of his 40-point performance, which included
only eight baskets, but also 21 fourth-quarter points - including two treys
and a three-point play.

Pierce, by hitting all 21 of his free throw attempts, broke a record
(18-for-18) set by Karl Malone on May 10, 1997.

``Paul was really a true shot,'' said Celtics coach Jim O'Brien. ``These guys
all have a great deal of pride and they were all over here (at 9) this morning
for an optional shootaround. That really helps our team.

``Paul got them in foul trouble, and I think that really hurt their team. It
became pretty obvious that Paul could get to the line, so we went with what
worked.

``It might be hard to imagine a guy sacrificing his body like that, because
they're not soft fouls he's getting. But with Paul, you have to honor his
step-back jumper, and we had our best shooting team on the floor, so we were
also able to stretch them out. But it was a real testament to his guts. To get
fouled hundreds of times and bounce back from it is really something.''

One encouraging byproduct, from a Celtics standpoint, was getting Pacers
forward Ron Artest to foul out by the end of the game. Though the Pacers mixed
their coverages of Pierce early, and clearly frustrated him in the process,
the physical Artest was his main tormenter down the stretch.

Not that it ultimately mattered. Artest fouled out of the game while wrestling
with Pierce for a loose ball with 40 seconds left - a tough moment that Pierce
converted into the Celtics' first lead (96-95) since the first quarter.

And with Artest off the floor for good, Pierce then swung out to the top of
the 3-point arc and buried a murderous trey 13 seconds later for a 99-97 edge.

In all, Pierce scored 27 points in the second half. The fact that he shot
8-for-24 from the floor was the biggest throwaway stat of the afternoon.

``I was pretty much tired coming into the game,'' he said. ``I really didn't
feel well - I had a sore throat. Early in the game, my legs weren't there and
I couldn't hit a jump shot. The least I could do was to hit some free throws.

``I just wanted to be aggressive and I kept going to the basket. They were
playing really tight defense on me. I thought I passed the ball really well in
the first half, just trying to hit open people.''

The result was six assists, to go along with his 40 points and a game-high 11
rebounds.

The result was also a dramatic win over a favored, but now very questionable,
opponent.

``Once he got into a rhythm, it was tough to stop him,'' said Pacers coach
Isiah Thomas. ``He put his head down and got to the line just about every
time.''

You probably won't find Thomas' words on George Karl's quote board.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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