The Truth Is On A Mission

Paul Pierce has found the Dixie cup of youth these past few games, we can only hope that whatever cooler he’s been drawing that magical liquid from has enough left in it to fuel him through the playoffs.  Granted, the Truth was probably a bit agitated that his boys in Kansas were rocked out of their number one seed by Northern Iowa (with eerily similar colors to a C’s rival) and was probably on fire from the ball busting he was taking in the locker room.

In the past four games (all wins), Pierce has averaged 24.7 PPG  while playing 26 MPG.  That is definitely some quality production coming from the number one scoring option.  Paul has had an up and down year, partly due to injuries and partly due to some aging sticks.  His shots had looked flat going into the All Star break but after winning the Three Point challenge it seemed to give him a boost coming out of the weekend.  It didn’t last long and he averaged a paltry 11.7 PPG in February while sitting for five games.

The most points Pierce has scored in a game this year has been 29 which he’s done twice in the past three games.  His best month shooting wise came in December when he averaged 20.8 PPG and shot 48 percent from the field.  In March he is coming back with 18.6 PPG and shooting a blistering 51 percent on the floor.  This is the Pierce that I remember so vividly, if not an even more efficient version of him.

That is what is so encouraging to see.  Instead of forcing up bad shots and just looking to get the foul call on the drives to the rack, Paul is finishing those drives or kicking out for a better opportunity.  It helps when you can trust your teammates to do the right thing when they get their mitts on the rock and having the second all time leader in threes made,  a speed merchant and someone who makes sailors blush isn’t half bad.

While Paul’s offense is taking off he is also keeping active on the defensive end of the floor.  While he isn’t stuffing the stat box his contributions have not gone unnoticed.  He is closing out on shooters and either altering the shot or making spot up jumpers turn into distributors.  His efforts have netted a few steals and some forced errors that led to fast break opportunities.  Combine that with Rondo’s unrelenting theft attempts and Kevin Garnett looking more and more comfortable on that gimpy knee and the C’s have started to find that vaunted defense that has carried them deep into the playoffs the past two seasons.

Whatever has gotten into the Truth I hope he holds onto it and lets everyone else on that team in on the secret.  If they could just get the bench playing with consistency (all I ask is 25 PPG, is that so much?) then I will really start to let myself feel good about this team’s chance of at least getting to the conference finals.

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