While stopping short of completely calling out his teammates, Paul Pierce hinted Friday night after a stunning 99-88 loss to the Bucks in the home opener that others on the team need to step up their play. Pierce went to the bench with six minutes left in the first quarter after his second foul. He returned to the bench after his third foul with just under five minutes left in the second quarter.
In the meantime, the Celtics fell behind by 16 points and trailed 46-30 at halftime. They never recovered in losing their second straight to start the season.
Pierce finished the first half with two points and missed all four shots from the field.
"It was tough, kind of threw me out of rhythm," Pierce said of his foul trouble. "I was able to sub early and come back in early in the second quarter. But even when that happens, we have to have guys ready to step up. It really wasn't about me, it was about the way our team played tonight, which was disappointing on offense and on defense. Both sides of the ball, we just didn't play well tonight.
"We're still trying to develop some chemistry with one another, offensively and defensively, understanding what we need to do, understanding the system, which is going to take some time. This is the first two games. We have 80 games left. We have time to get it together."
For more, visit the Celtics team page at weei.com/celtics [1] and the Green Street [2] blog.
Links:
[1] http://www.weei.com/celtics
[2] http://www.greenstreet.weei.com
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/celtics