No Need for Wheelchair as Pierce Walks Off Latest Knee Scare

December 16, 2008

This time there wasn't a wheelchair-aided return for Paul Pierce. But the captain, who bent his left knee in the wrong direction when Utah's Mehmet Okur fell to the ground and collided with Pierce in the last minute of the Celtics' 100-91 win against the Jazz last night, later predicted he'll be fine.
``It's a little tender,'' he said, showing up for his postgame press conference without an ice pack on the knee. ``The knee kind of buckled. I should be alright. Okur landed on the knee and it went straight back. But I iced it out back and I'm able to put weight on it, so it should be alright.''

Said Doc Rivers: ``(Celtics trainer) Eddie (Lacerte) thinks he'll be OK, but I'm sure they're going to do the regular tests, so I don't know.''



Making history

The Celtics, with their 15th straight win, now have the fourth longest streak in franchise history behind the 1981-82 team (18 straight), 1959-60 (17) and 1964-65 (16). At 23-2, the Celtics are also tied with the 1994-95 Bulls for the fourth-best start in league history for a team with only two losses.
Only two teams - the 1966-67 Sixers and 1969-70 Knicks - have started better. Both teams share the league record at 26-2. Then again, this team continues to be unimpressed by these numbers. ``What do we get for that?'' Pierce said facetiously of the winning streak.

Gold and Green

Eight-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, on a promotional tour with Jared of Subway fame, paid a postgame visit to the Celtics locker room. ``It was good to meet him,'' Pierce said. ``He's a great Olympian. We always respect great athletes. He's one of our peers. Down the line we can tell our kids that he was one of the best while we were playing.'' Brian Scalabrine was slightly puzzled.

``I thought he was taller,'' he said. . . . Phelps wasn't the only Olympic gold medalist in the building last night. Utah point guard Deron Williams finished the game with 15 points and seven assists.

Doc sees epidemic

The sixth NBA coach bit the dust yesterday. News of Reggie Theus being fired by the Sacramento Kings - the second coach this week when counted with Maurice Cheeks, who was sacked by Philadelphia - had his peer in the Celtics locker room composing gallows humor. ``It's just amazing,'' Rivers said before watching his team beat the Jazz. ``Someone in there said it's like the flu - you know you're going to get it.'' This has to be some kind of NBA record.

``Except for last year, maybe,'' said Rivers, who now buys into the theory that the rate of impatience in the NBA has accelerated. ``Maybe it's a change in philosophy everywhere. In college football you never heard of a coach getting fired during the season, and now that's happened.'' Rivers can identify better than most. He was fired 11 games into his fifth season in Orlando with a 1-10 record.

``I went home and played 18 the next day,'' Rivers said of how he coped with the dismissal. ``I don't know if any of you have been fired from a job before, but I've been fired, and you do have to cope with it. You're forced to look at yourself, and you realize that you're not perfect.''