What have we learned?

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm going to try and stay positive (since the negativity around this team
sucks and it stinks and it sucks ;?), but I'd like to explore what we have
learned about the Cs this season and playoffs.

Number one positive: Pierce is the real deal.

This guy does it all: scores, rebounds, assists, defense, leadership,
inspiration and my god is he mentally tough.

It seems as if he has had to fight something his entire career: his rookie
year it was the doubts about his draft drift, the lock-out, and then top it
off the Kentucky mafia and Pitino belittling and berating him in the
locker-room to the point of tears. There was the stabbing, and then having
to testify about it. There was USA basketball going down the tubes and
Pierce being the fall guy for all the stars who didn't want to play for
their country when there was no "glory" involved. And then there are the
"little" things like the constant beating that comes with getting to the
line on a consistent basis. Pierce has never backed down from this
underappreciated but crucial part of the game. He has never been
intimidated. Confused, exhausted, injured - yes, but intimidated - no.

And everything he does (and he does everything), he manages with a minimum
of help. The team is not structured to make his job any easier. He never
gets to guard the opposition's big stiff. He never gets easy buckets off the
(non-existent) break. He doesn't have a penetrating PG to draw defenders or
a post threat to draw a double team. There is no big man who blocks out the
opposition allowing him to cherry-pick rebounds. And still Pierce succeeds.

[Yet there are still fans who would try and tear him down... why? Because he
is "saint Paul" - because he is more successful or popular or appreciated
than Walker. Where is the logic in this? All I can say is WTF?]

Pierce does have Antoine to feed him passes in the post and he does have
teammates committed to Harter's defense -  but without Pierce the Celts win
30-odd games and don't even make the playoffs in the east.

Pierce isn't perfect, but he improves his game significantly from year to
year. He's the guy who can be the foundation of a championship team. These
players are rare and we are lucky. Management should not continue to
squander such luck. Hopefully under Ainge it won't.