Paul Pierce's Struggling: Injury Or Fatigue?

In the games leading up to the start of December, Paul Pierce led the Celtics in scoring for ten of their seventeen games averaging 23.3 PPG in that stretch.  Since December first, Pierce has only led the team once (and only with 19 in Memphis) in the previous eight games.

So what is the truth with The Truth?  Is he playing through some injury that is being kept at a Belichickian level of secrecy?  Maybe it’s just a funk, like the Dallas Cowboys packing it in for December.  Whatever it is, something needs to be done.

The first seventeen games of the season, Pierce showed up leaner and stronger than he had ever looked wearing Celtic green.  Maybe he thought he thought that with his new look he could push himself even harder than he did last year when he averaged thirty six minutes a game.  It could be that he is trying to do too much again this season in his quest for banner eighteen. 

Paul is statistically having a great year and surpassing his career marks in FG% (47 this year to 44 career) and his 3P% is way up at 44% to his career average of 36%.  Unfortunately I think Doc Rivers is stretching Pierce (as well as KG and Ray Allen) thin with the amount of time on the floor.  I know that once you hit thirty in any sport you’re pretty much considered dead weight and on the decline for your career but the New Big Three are consistently getting it done.  The problem is, there are a lot of games on those legs and a ton of minutes.  Paul has played in 838 games and averaging 37.5 MPG for his career.  That might not seem like a lot but he is on pace to for KG like numbers for games and minutes.  Garnett has 1,080 games under his belt and 37.4 MPG and he has three more years in the league on Paul.

I think that Pierce’s legs are starting to go a bit early in games.  They’ve always been there when he’s needed them for that last drive or for the final three but lately they’ve let him down.  I’ve seen some flat shots heading into the fourth quarter of games with a lot of hard back rim rebounds.  That tells me Pierce isn’t getting elevated late in games to get the ball off at the top of his shot and is relying more on arm strength to get it there. 

I’m not an expert but if something is bothering Paul like some nagging injury then Doc should start giving him more rest.  If it’s a fatigue issue Doc should give him…more rest.  I feel like if Doc had KG, Allen and Pierce limited to about thirty minutes a game they won’t be so rubber legged at the ends of games against younger teams like the 76ers who had no business winning last night’s game.

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