NBA - Sports Rumors

Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:11 am EDT

Pierce's recovery was more pro wrestling than basketball

By Joe Zedalis

Paul Pierce

Getty Images

He lay in a heap on the parquet floor, visibly weeping into the silk-suited sleeve of his doctor. He was pushed in a wheelchair down a narrow back hallway, head down, season over. Paul Pierce, the Boston Celtics captain, was carried from the opening game of the NBA Finals in the third quarter Thursday with an apparent serious knee injury that momentarily deadened and distracted the Lakers. At which point, Pierce came running back to finish them off wrote Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke.

To nearly 50 years of delicious Celtics-Lakers lore, add a new apparent bit of chicanery. Call it the Fake N'Shake. The Celtics won Game 1, 98-88, on the momentum of a recovery that smacked more of professional wrestling than professional basketball. When Pierce crumpled on the floor after being apparently faked out of his kneecap by Kobe Bryant with 6:52 left in the third quarter, the Lakers led by four points. When he returned after just 1:45 had ticked off the game clock, the Celtics led by one. The "Rocky" theme played. The crowd roared. Pierce hobbled out with drama dripping from every step. He was so hurt, he immediately began sprinting around the stunned Lakers defenders.

He was in such pain, he hit consecutive three pointers late in the period that gave the Celtics the lead for good. At which point, a Lakers season filled with colorful adjectives had been reduced to one word. C'mon!

Source: Los Angeles TimesNew Window

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39 Comments

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  1. Jamye (Arsenault) Cutter
    1. Posted by Jamye (Arsenault) Cutter Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:26 pm EDT

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    I didn't know they had a newspaper for sore losers in L.A.
  2. b4ABCsrick
    2. Posted by b4ABCsrick Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:37 pm EDT

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    exactly, this is the same thing I was thinkin.... Boston was pullin shenanigans, instead of playing basketball, they were content on riding emotions.... horrible. Good win for them though, cant take nothin from the celtics
  3. dude
    3. Posted by dude Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:02 pm EDT

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    Yeah, it was a setup, pretty smart guy
  4. C-TOWNMAC
    4. Posted by C-TOWNMAC Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:50 pm EDT

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    crybabies! i'm sure crybaby Kobe blamed his teamates. is he one the best ever? yes. is a a crybaby that cheats on his wife? yes. believe it or not people, that was actually not a racist remark. did i mention that I think Paul Pierce reminds me of jay-z? if you think that was the least bit racist, then you problably also think that Larry Bird was overated and not that good. oh well, you can always count on some people's reaction. GO BROWNS!
  5. VIN K
    5. Posted by VIN K Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:03 pm EDT

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    i live in southern california . . . the la times is a whiny liberal rag . . .
  6. Mark E
    6. Posted by Mark E Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:16 pm EDT

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    Kobe is not in jordan's class. just look at the numbers. when i saw him miss that jumper from the base line with the shot clock expiring that confirmed that he his not as great as jordan. pierce is better than kobe.
  7. A Yahoo! User
    7. Posted by A Yahoo! User Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:17 am EDT

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    Wow this is sad...
  8. Louis Davout
    8. Posted by Louis Davout Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:57 pm EDT

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    I must have been watching a another game, If this rag treats all news like this,it makes you wonder how honest they are.
  9. WMA
    9. Posted by WMA Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:42 pm EDT

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    Laughable. This guy OBVIOUSLY doesnt know anything about Pierce. He is a workhorse!!! Wouldnt fake ANYTHING! He also doesnt know anything about knee injuries either. He will be hurting for sure today. And its not like Pierce was cutting through the Lakers slamming it after. He was making jumpshots from way out. MORON go cry in your cosmo somewhere!
  10. WMA
    10. Posted by WMA Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:42 pm EDT

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    Laughable. This guy OBVIOUSLY doesnt know anything about Pierce. He is a workhorse!!! Wouldnt fake ANYTHING! He also doesnt know anything about knee injuries either. He will be hurting for sure today. And its not like Pierce was cutting through the Lakers slamming it after. He was making jumpshots from way out. MORON go cry in your cosmo somewhere!
  11. WMA
    11. Posted by WMA Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:42 pm EDT

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    Laughable. This guy OBVIOUSLY doesnt know anything about Pierce. He is a workhorse!!! Wouldnt fake ANYTHING! He also doesnt know anything about knee injuries either. He will be hurting for sure today. And its not like Pierce was cutting through the Lakers slamming it after. He was making jumpshots from way out. MORON go cry in your cosmo somewhere!
  12. WMA
    12. Posted by WMA Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:42 pm EDT

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    Laughable. This guy OBVIOUSLY doesnt know anything about Pierce. He is a workhorse!!! Wouldnt fake ANYTHING! He also doesnt know anything about knee injuries either. He will be hurting for sure today. And its not like Pierce was cutting through the Lakers slamming it after. He was making jumpshots from way out. MORON go cry in your cosmo somewhere!
  13. WMA
    13. Posted by WMA Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:42 pm EDT

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    oops! Sorry about that!
  14. Phinneus
    14. Posted by Phinneus Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:35 pm EDT

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    actually the lummox center barged into pierce under the boards causing the knee injury. the 'hobble' looked a lot more like a skip when pierce returned, and if that clown heard 'rocky' being played he needs to get his meds and his speakers checked. a great moment for the celtics and to 'hint' that it was contrived takes away from both teams.
  15. erici
    15. Posted by erici Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:03 pm EDT

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    this is disgusting, This guy is a lame that rides Kobe so hard he would resort to some one like Pierce the toughest guy in the NBA to faking an unjury...he was hurt you could see it on his face and in the way he was yelling, and let me guess against phoenix in 04 when he got his teeth knocked out an came back in the 2nd half and scored 24 finished with 32, all while having a tooth yanked and 3 broked..was he faking then too????? C'mon this writer just has never seen what a tough all out player looks like..all he sees are prima donnas in LA
  16. Dienekes
    16. Posted by Dienekes Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:32 pm EDT

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    "...Pierce crumpled on the floor after being apparently faked out of his kneecap by Kobe Bryant with 6:52 left in the third quarter"....
    Did you see Perkins fall on Pierce's knee?
    Plaschke is once again creating fiction. Good thing the first amendment protects you from having to report the truth. You are a disgrace to journalism.
  17. Da Real Un-Biased FAN
    17. Posted by Da Real Un-Biased FAN Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:18 pm EDT

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    Man, that whole saga was a shame......... from him getting a wheelchair and then waiting at the entrance to come back on to the court until the cameramen got there........... come on............. I think Boston played good, well enough to win, but I just really want to see them call this game fair.......... it was so much Jersey grabbing from the Celts that they claimed was good Defense and tick tack fouls that they gave Rondo............ are the refs gonna let them be physical or not??? And the lack of fouls called when Odom picked up five and was just pushing KG in the back....... I just want to know when is a foul a foul???? Paul Pierce can play but I think Boston went over the Top with the WWE entrance..... if Kobe did that everyone would say he's doing for attention and trying to be Jordan........
    It was a good game though...................
  18. AJ
    18. Posted by AJ Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:48 pm EDT

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    3 more wins !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! beat la beat la beat la
  19. T_cornmuffin_
    19. Posted by T_cornmuffin_ Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:57 pm EDT

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    are you serious guy? come on, let perkins land on your calf and see how you feel....maybe you could make excuses as to why the lakers lost the game now. how about you go after the refs or call the celtics dirty.
  20. UsThree
    20. Posted by UsThree Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:24 pm EDT

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    First off, C-TOWNMAC, you are not allowed to mention Larry Bird when you are under the age of 25.
    But, growing up a die-hard Larry Bird and Celtics fan, I instantly yelled out to my party that was watching the game and said that Danny Ainge was staging this Pierce "injury" for a dramatic return to the court, ala Larry Bird against the Pacers in Game 5 back in 1991 (too long ago for most of you newbies). I can live with haters like Plashke trying to call Pierce out, because I will admit, Pierce (not Ray Allen) is the real Hollywood actor!!! But you gotta love Pierce!!!! Nasty!!! BEAT LA!!!!
  21. Jaceman
    21. Posted by Jaceman Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:40 pm EDT

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    "sprinting"? are you serious? if you actually watched the game pierce could barely get up the floor, he was running at half his normal speed at most, why allen missed him on the breakaway, why he settled for jumpers and stopped driving to the basket.
  22. mikey
    22. Posted by mikey Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:41 pm EDT

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    This is an actual sports writer writing this?He must have watched the highlites on TV because he saw a different game than the rest of us
  23. Troy
    23. Posted by Troy Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:12 pm EDT

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    What a joke...has anyone ever twisted an ankle? You're hopping around on one foot for 5 minutes cause it feels like you have total demolished it, then after you start walking around it isn't so bad. The medical staff had to get him off the floor so they could look at his knee, and they probably didn't want him walking on it yet. Once he was in the dressing room being examined and realized that he could bear weight on it, they taped it and put the elastic sleeve and let him return. A setup? not at all. The Lakers would have taken the same precautions with Kobe or Pao if it had happened to them.
  24. sportsnut888
    24. Posted by sportsnut888 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:02 pm EDT

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    I'm sure he felt the pain at the time, and luckily it was nothing serious. That being said, for media types to compare it to Willis Reed in 1970 is ludicrous (and I don't mean the rapper for the 20 somethings). Pierce went the locker room, got checked, and came back out. Nothing even close to what Reed did back in the day.
  25. Rickers
    25. Posted by Rickers Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    What you doing to do when Paul Pierce gets hurt, comes back, and goes off on you, brother!
    So what, one game. That is why it is 4 games for the title, 4. But, I give the Celtics a lot of credit, they showed heart. The finals is a lot different than the other rounds. Good for them!

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