The Celtics still will be seeking to practice the politics of inclusion as they distribute the basketball among themselves, both tonight against Denver and for the rest of the season. They want to play as a team and treat each other as equals.
But when it comes to scoring, they now know Paul Pierce is a little more equal than everybody else, if you get the drift. This has become even more clear the past two games, in which the captain averaged 35 points. In fact, during his past five quarters, Pierce has burned the strings for 56.
``Oh, I think that all the time,'' he said with a slight grin when asked if he simply wants the ball sometimes. ``But I try to play within the flow of the offense. I don't want to take away from everybody else's abilities. I know what I'm capable of, but it's a team game and we need each other to win.''
It took Pierce awhile to realize it last season, but he bears perhaps more of the responsibility to generate offense if the called plays aren't working. In other words, it's OK for him to fly semi-solo when he sees fit.
``I just think I kind of got to a point where I could feel in the game where I needed to do that,'' Pierce said. ``It wasn't like before the game I'd tell myself that this was a game where I needed to score. It kind of came naturally. It's just certain days you kind of feel the game out and you see where you need to be more assertive.''
He admits it was a little hard to step out of the structure as things were beginning last season. The clear focus for the Celts was proving three All-Stars - Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen - could co-exist and thrive with just one ball. There were even times when the C's did so to their detriment.
``Yeah, definitely,'' Pierce said. ``Especially early you have to feel out your teammates and you've got to make the sacrifices. But once I got comfortable with the way we were playing and how we wanted to run our offense, I was better able to pick my spots. It usually comes from the coaches where they tell me I need to be more aggressive. Sometimes it would come on its own, but after awhile the coaches were telling me I had to do it. They'd tell me that even playing as a team, we needed me to take the ball and make plays.''
That concept was very much on display during his Game 7 shootout with LeBron James and the Cavaliers and the 38- and 28-point runs against the Lakers in the Finals. ``I think Paul, Ray and Kevin pick their spots in doing that,'' Doc Rivers said. ``All those guys are capable of having big scoring nights, but Paul clearly was our go-to guy, and he sensed it during the year when the other two didn't have it. Fortunately he did that even more in the playoffs. Ray had some good spots like that, too, but Paul was the one who had to do it more.''
Or as Pierce put it, ``Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do.''
Celtics notes
The C's did make contact with Antonio McDyess' representatives after he cleared waivers, but the expectation remains he'll return to the Pistons. . . . Most of the players didn't even break a sweat yesterday in practice. The team stretched, went over some things and got up some shots. ``With this stretch we're going through, you've got to save the legs,'' Rivers said. ``Really I just wanted them to be together. I just wanted them to be in the gym.'' As you'd expect, it was gameday for the gang from the end of the bench and inactive list. The team of Gabe Pruitt, J.R. Giddens and Patrick O'Bryant defeated Sam Cassell, Brian Scalabrine and Bill Walker in a best-of-seven series with games to seven points. Cassell gave Giddens a hard time when the latter threw down an alley-oop jam and got loud. ``You do it then,'' the rookie said.
He's got you there, Sam.
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