Re: "Pierce shows how it's done"- Indianapolis Star

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

True the Pacers know Pierce missed 16 of 24, and still scored 40. I'm also
sure their confident he won't do it again quite the same way. They know if
they shut him down, it will be a cake walk. Pierce and Walker will need 50+
between themselves and the Pacers know it.

We shot a respectable 39% for 3's. Walker only took 5, that's encouraging.
One stat I wish were kept is per possession time average per team.

Put out an Police APB on Bremer, is he lost??

DanF

----- Original Message -----
From: <Tammo29@AOL.com>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2003 4:54 PM
Subject: "Pierce shows how it's done"- Indianapolis Star


> C. Jemal Horton
> Pierce shows how it's done
>
> April 20, 2003
>
> They just don't get it.
>
> The majority of the Indiana Pacers are playing in their third consecutive
> playoff series. They have grown enough by now. They should know that
someone
> on their team has to be ready to make the plays when the game is close.
>
> And they still don't have a clue.
>
> Saturday's first-round playoff loss to Boston helped them, though. Well,
it
> better have helped.
>
> The Pacers have to extract something redeemable from this series-breaking
> defeat, in which they were beaten like a Colts cornerback in early
October.
>
> All the Pacers had to do was watch Boston's Paul Pierce in the fourth
> quarter.
>
> And from the way Pierce dominated and carried his supposedly inferior team
on
> virtually every possession in the fourth quarter, about the only thing the
> Pacers were doing was watching.
>
> "Paul was dynamite," Indiana second-year point guard Jamaal Tinsley said.
"He
> hit big shot after big shot."
>
> The Pacers' precocious-but-empty-handed players got to see up close just
how
> a true star goes about his business in the postseason.
>
> They saw that respect and success are not attained through mere rhetoric.
> Quoting Pacers forward Al Harrington on the eve of Game 1: "It's going to
be
> a coming-out party for me, for sure."
>
> Let's just say the party isn't going too well if a dude with size-15 Nikes
> jumps out of your cake.
>
> If the younger Pacers hadn't gotten the hint from all those Reggie Miller
> moments, then Pierce's mind-blowing display had to be confirmation.
>
> Real players are the difference for their teams in the playoffs; wannabes
> usually wind up mumbling something about being better the next game.
>
> Pierce had 21 points in the fourth quarter, equaling the total the Pacers
> scored in that period. The Pacers led by 10 points going into the final
> quarter, yet Pierce was good enough to lead the Celtics to a three-point
> victory.
>
> If that's not carrying a team, I don't know what is.
>
> More than that, Pierce showed how to carry a team when you're not even
> playing your best basketball. That's an even greater lesson for the
> inconsistent Indiana kids.
>
> Going into the fourth quarter, Pierce had made just 4-of-19 shots. His
> shooting touch had been off the mark, plus the Pacers often sicced the
> aggressive Ron Artest on Pierce to throw him off-balance.
>
> However, in the fourth quarter, Pierce went out and shot 4-for-5,
including
> three 3-pointers, and made all 11 of his free throws. Pierce clearly was
> different when it appeared the Celtics were about to lose.
>
> For some reason, none of the Pacers seemed to catch on and try to mimic
that
> approach.
>
> "That was unbelievable," said Miller, the only Pacer qualified to appraise
> Pierce's performance. "I think the energy Pierce brought in the fourth
> quarter was amazing."
>
> Pierce finished with 40 points. And while some people -- say, the Indiana
> Pacers -- will point out that Pierce missed 16 of his 24 shots on the way
to
> those 40 points, well, that just doesn't matter at all.
>
> What matters is that, when the Pacers allowed the game to just sit there
> waiting to be won, Pierce was almost perfect. What matters is that, when
> Pierce decided to attack the basket for points, the Pacers could not stop
> him.
>
> "I just wanted to be aggressive," Pierce said, "and I kept going to the
> basket."
>
> The Pacers' potential stars -- Artest, Tinsley, Harrington, Jermaine
O'Neal,
> Brad Miller -- got a lesson from Pierce: You move from the pretender stage
by
> doing and carrying -- not talking. Nothing matters until you are great in
the
> playoffs.
>
> They better get the hint now. Otherwise, there will be more time to watch
> Pierce.
>
> On TV.
>
> C. Jemal Horton is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star.