Deveney on Pierce v. Milwaukee

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

  That was a very nice piece.
  I've noticed a trend among the boards lately to blame Pierce for things he 
didn't do (the poster last week that accused him of pulling up on a fast 
break for a three when it was actually the other captain) and to not give him 
credit when it is deserved (a poster on another board credited Antoine for 
Kedricks alley-OOP dunk last night when it was in fact Pierce that made that 
nice play, slowing up just a bit to give Brown time to get to the basket but 
still keeping the good passing angle).  I'm not really sure why that is and I 
won't even try to guess.  Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of 
things to be critical of with him this season.  I just think it would be nice 
if he didn't have to take the fall for others too. 

Anyway, back to the article.  The Celtics are really going to have to do 
something about the physicality issue.  Teams aren't even bothering to mask 
it anymore.  They're coming right out and telling the world that they are 
going to knock him around at every opportunity and the Celtics are letting 
them get away with it.  When he tries to stand up for himself, like he did 
last night when he got elbowed in the chops away from the ball he is 
criticized for not keeping his cool.  And the Boston papers are totally 
oblivious to the whole incident, saying instead he was arguing a foul called 
on him.  Where was O'Brien?  It happened right in front of the Celtics bench 
and he didn't even say a word as far as I could tell.  That should have been 
his T.
On the other hand I watched Steve Francis and Kobe Bryant get to the line 
repeatedly the other night for nothing more than a brush of the uniform.  
Nowitzki got some calls tonight that Pierce could only dream of getting and 
he was getting them on jumpshots, not even on drives.  It really makes you 
wonder what in the heck is going on.

I don't see any other team letting one of their top players get treated this 
poorly without a teammate stepping in and at least trying to even up the 
score, I don't care what Chris Wallace says.  
With Antoine out for two weeks it's just going to give opponents more of an 
incentive to knock Paul around as long as they know they can get away with 
it.
If it keeps happening, O'Brien has to either put in someone like Wolkowyski, 
who won't be missed if he's disqualified for a game or two to throw a few 
bodies around himself, or take his complaints to the League through the media 
so it's at least out there in public for the ref's to think about.   Hey, it 
worked for Riley.


TAM