Pierce scored 13 points in the quarter on just four field goal attempts, canning six of the seven free throw attempts he earned.
BOSTON -- For a few moments during Wednesday night’s third quarter, and hardly more than that, the TD Garden crowd roared.
After trailing by 16 points, he Boston Celtics were within 11 of the Brooklyn Nets. Shavlik Randolph had just taken a charge. The Jumbotron featured fans doing the Bernie dance. One looked a bit like Santa Clause. Another deserved a professional gig. The building lived, it bounced, it hoped, all rarities during a contest that saw Boston whipped inside and out.
Much of the night brought silence. Not utter silence, the kind when you’re alone in your room with nothing but a book and a bedside lamp, but the hushed tone of a crowd waiting for any consistent push to cheer. The lack of sustained noise provided a tangible layer of disappointment, a shame because during that period Paul Pierce deserved so much applause.
He would slow down later, finishing with 23 points, but during the third quarter Pierce basically played Brooklyn by himself. Sure, he had four teammates alongside him, but Boston’s offense essentially devolved into Pierce-versus-all. He ran pick-and-rolls over and over. If he drew too many defenders, he found his teammates. If not, he shot it himself.
During a few of the occasions he didn’t run a pick-and-roll at the top of the key, he parked near the paint and worked out of the post. One could almost see his face scrunched, arms pumping, a fishing pole in his hands trying to reel his dead-weight teammates above the water’s surface. The solo act wasn’t ideal, but he was trying, he was trying so hard, to snap his teammates out of their sleep-walking funk.
"He just came out aggressive," said coach Doc Rivers. "He was upset. He didn't like the way we were playing."
It wasn't like Pierce never does this. He's put together similar performances countless times. But this was in the fifth-to-last regular season game, on a night his team didn't seem to possess much fight. Pierce could have blended in by doing next to nothing. He just didn't feel in that type of mood.
He scored 13 points in the quarter on just four field goal attempts, canning six of the seven free throw attempts he earned. He added one assist and one rebound, stats that didn't nearly describe how heavily the Celtics relied on him.
Boston hadn't taken a single charity shot during the first half, and the captain had noticed.
As Rivers said, "It's funny, the first thing (Pierce) said walking in at halftime: 'We have zero free throws, and we don't deserve them. We've got to attack.'"
The Celtics never did mount a real charge; every time they came close, it seemed, a missed closeout or boxout shortly followed. Pierce exited with 35.5 seconds left in the quarter. Boston trailed by 10 points. By the time he returned four minutes into the fourth, the deficit was 14. He wouldn't score again, his dominant third quarter destined to become a footnote.
"We have to start prepping our mind, our mindset, our game plan and everything we do for the playoffs, and it was a step back," Pierce explained.
It was a step back, for sure. Thus, Pierce's great quarter will be overshadowed by the disappointing result.