After starting the season out on an absolute tear, the captain has come back down to earth for a few games. Pierce started the season off (up until the Miami game) at 46% shooting from behind the arc. Since then he has gone 3-11 to bring his season average down to a more normal 43.6%. The Truth also started the season off up to this point averaging 20 points, which has fallen to 18.5, after only putting together 10.3 ppg in his previous 3 starts. It is not just his shooting that has lowered, however. His assists aren’t where they once were. In the first 16 games of the season, Pierce dished the ball out for 4.25 assists per game, but since then is only going for 1.3 per game.

So enough of the statistical analyisis. Your brain is probably flipped right up side down after all those numbers, and you may have had to go back and re read the sentence to understand the differences between then and now. The point is not to show that Pierce is sucking by any stretch of the imagination. The point is to show that he is human, and just like Ray went through his stretch, #34 will have some of his own. His numbers are getting back to a more reasonable level where they were crazy to begin the season. Either way, all of this is from the offensive side of the game, The Truth has still clamped down on his man on defense and played the part of your game you can bring to the floor every night- lock down defense.

This has also shown us that our team can get things done in a variety of ways. Without question, Pierce led us to a 12-4 mark. He threw the team on his back and got the job done. Now, he has backed off, as he doesn’t have to do it all with KG and Ray getting back into the groove, and we have seen that the team can get it done with minimal help from PP. The Celtics have a team that can win games from a variety of different talented players. This is comforting as certain players will have a bad night, but there is almost always someone there to pick up the slack.

(Photo by D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)