With No Regrets, Harrington Deals With Losing

Let "The Truth" Be Told

Boston Celtics swingman Paul Pierce slipped into the training room in the visitor's locker room at MCI Center on Saturday and slapped a huge bandage over the 10 stitches that covered his forehead. Pierce explained that he slipped in his bedroom two nights before and cut his head on the nightstand. When told that he needed to make up a better story, Pierce began rubbing his head and said, "I know. That's what's so terrible about this."

The truth hurts sometimes. What might be worse for Pierce is having to watch the best statistical season of his career go to waste on a Celtics team headed nowhere. Pierce is the fifth-most efficient player in the NBA, averaging career-highs with 26.4 points on 49.8 percent shooting and 7.6 rebounds. He has scored 19 or more points in 33 of the Celtics' 34 games. "His offensive efficiency is off the charts now. More importantly, he's passing the ball. He's getting guys involved," Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said about Pierce, who also leads the team with 4.5 assists. "I do think at his position, he's the best rebounder in the league. And he's doing that even better. The way he plays, his spirit has been great for the team. It's been nice to see."

Pierce is putting up MVP-caliber numbers but could never be mentioned as a candidate because the Celtics' record (13-21) is so wretched. Boston is a mismatched collection of Pierce, mostly unseasoned youngsters and some unproven veterans. Following a disappointing 104-102 loss against Dallas -- in which Pierce scored a game-high 32 points -- the Celtics have lost three in a row and continue to moonwalk like Michael Jackson in the weaker-by-day Eastern Conference.

Pierce, who doesn't appear to fit with this hodge-podge team, has been the subject of trade rumors for a while in Boston. This summer, he was supposedly headed to Denver for Andre Miller and Nene. Then he was rumored to be going to the Los Angeles Clippers for Corey Maggette. But Pierce is still standing and, if anything, his performance this season has only enhanced his trade value. "That's part of the business. I really don't even care for the trade rumors. I don't even think about it," Pierce said. "It's totally out of my control. You go out there and say you want to be traded, but who's to say you're going to be in a better situation. All I got to do is go out there and do the best I can and whatever happens happens."

Although his efforts still result in losing and the trade rumors never cease, the eight-year veteran has managed to remain upbeat and done a better job of suppressing the Pierce pouty face that seem on the verge of permanence through previous years in Boston. "I've matured and I've learned," Pierce said. "Especially with the young group we have around us. They're still trying to find themselves, still trying to find their niche in this league. At the same time, you want to win, being in my position. Guys are looking to me for leadership and I have to lead by example. They watch everywhere I go, everything that I do and I just got to be a positive influence on them, so they can learn how to be a pro as they go."

This was not a small step for Pierce, who had his leadership questioned since Antoine Walker was traded from Boston the first time in 2003. And, after his despicable, jersey-tossing, face-taping performance after he was ejected during Game 6 of the Celtics' first-round series against the Pacers, Rivers began to question his star's maturity and ability to lead. This season, however, has helped Rivers come around some with Pierce. "It's not with words. He's starting to understand that," Rivers said. "I've never followed the most verbal guy. I've always followed the guy who showed you how to do it with his actions. Paul is starting to do that. It's easier when you do become verbal to say something when you've already done it. When you say something and you haven't done it, they're not going to follow it."

The first step Pierce had to take as a leader was at least attempting to come on the same page as Rivers. In Rivers' first season last year, the two clashed repeatedly. Rivers urged Pierce to become more unselfish with the ball and more proficient with his scoring opportunities. "I think it was pretty much all on me, you know, how I was going to take him," Pierce said of Rivers. "If I wanted to sit here and bump heads with the head coach and we'll both be miserable, it just wouldn't work out."

Said Rivers, "I didn't know if we would [arrive on the same page] or not. I thought we would. I just thought it would be a process."

And, apparently, the Doc knows best. In two seasons under Rivers, Pierce is shooting 46.7 percent from floor (compared to 40.9 percent from 2002-04) and 37.3 percent from beyond the three-point line (30.0 percent in the three seasons prior). Pierce is sixth in the Eastern Conference among forwards in fan balloting for the All-Star Game, trailing LeBron James, Jermaine O'Neal, Rasheed Wallace, Chris Webber and, um, Ron Artest. The fans have never voted in Pierce, a four-time all-star, leaving him to rely exclusively on the astute judgment of the coaches of the teams he torches on a nightly basis. Pierce expects the same treatment this season, although he said he believes there aren't many forwards in the NBA playing better basketball right row. "You have a couple of other guys playing well. LeBron, of course. Tracy McGrady, those guys are going to be at the top," he said. "I'm just tying to get better. A lot of people don't recognize that, but it's always been that way for me.

I mean, I was drafted No. 10. You go back at my class and people still say, 'How did I go 10?' " With 12,987 career points, Pierce is 10th on the Celtics' all-time scoring list, trailing JoJo White by just 202 points for ninth. Pierce, however, doesn't think he should be mentioned among the best players in franchise history -- yet. "That's stuff for people in the media and past players to judge," Pierce said. "[The Celtics] have a lot of tradition, a lot of Hall of Famers, but the thing about that, a lot of them have championships. I feel like, until I get a championship, how can I be mentioned among them?"