Richardson Bites Tongue in Defeat

In a game that had none of the trash-talking that marred the teams' previous meeting here in November, Quentin Richardson had little to say to Paul Pierce when they met at midcourt for the pregame captains' meeting with the officials.

"He said, 'What up?' and I said 'What up?'" Richardson said. "And that was it. We didn't talk to each other for the rest of the game. We played hard, they played hard. Not a whole lot of anything except playing basketball.

"They're a great team," said Richardson. "That's why they beat us. They're the world champs."

--Newsday

Now that's more like it. I'm the first to admit I don't fully grasp the nuances of talkin' trash. But my theory is that until you can compete with a team, it's best not to bad mouth that team.

Keep it zipped and just play ball.