Pierce plays through knee issues : Celtics forward Paul Pierce was able to play through a sore left knee during Game 5 of Boston's first-round playoff series against the Hawks on Tuesday night. Pierce finished with 16 points in the 87-86 win, on 7 of 17 shooting from the field. He went 2 for 4 from downtown and also added six assists, four assists and three steals to his stat line, while logging 36 minutes of game action. (Updated 05/09/2012)
Injury Report
No information available at this time (Updated 5/26/12).
Fantasy Analysis
Pierce has been beat up all season, but it is going to take more than a sore left knee to keep him out during the playoffs. Despite getting off to a very slow start this season, Pierce still managed to increase his scoring and assist output from a last year and finished in the top 10 among all forward, in terms of Fantasy points. Fantasy owners should plan on targeting Pierce in the early round of most formats heading into the 2012-13 season. (Updated 05/09/2012).
05/25/2012 15:52 Roundtable on Sixers-Celtics Game 7: Who needs to step up?
With Game 7 on Saturday deciding who will face the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, we thought we'd do a little roundtable action on exactly what has to happen for each side to come away wth a win as the Sixers and Celtics settle their series.
05/25/2012 11:49 Sixers-Celtics Game 7: 30 years later, the Sixers need a new Andrew Toney
The Sixers beat the Celtics 30 years ago in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals behind 34 points from Andrew Toney. Can anyone on the modern day Sixers step up in Game 7 Saturday to lead them past Boston's Big 3?
05/23/2012 22:56 76ers drop Celtics, force Game 7
Jrue Holiday scored 20 points, and Elton Brand had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the tough-and-determined Philadelphia 76ers past the Celtics, 82-75 on Wednesday night to send the Eastern Conference semifinals back to Boston for Game 7.
The 33-year-old Pierce doesn’t have any designs on slowing down entering 2011-12 as he improved upon his numbers from 2009-10 last year. Pierce picked up his production all around as he scored 18.9 points, grabbed 5.4 rebounds and dished out 3.3 assists per game while shooting a career-high 50 percent from the field. While GM Danny Ainge mentioned he could eventually become a bench player, limiting his minutes, that won’t happen this year. If the Celtics want to win, the offense will keep going through Pierce and Pierce will continue to produce as one of the best Fantasy forwards in the NBA. His Big Three teammates of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen are still around and the Celtics shouldn’t change the way they play too much. Still durable at his age after playing 80 games last year, Pierce remains a top 15 Fantasy forward and someone to target in the early rounds of most Fantasy drafts. (Updated 8/23/11)
