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NBA FINALS: LAKERS v CELTICS

June 7, 2008

Paul Pierce

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day

Q. How are you feeling today versus yesterday? And do you feel like you have better range of movement? And can you just describe what that feels like, and what treatment did you go through?
PAUL PIERCE: Well, I did a lot of ice and steam throughout the day yesterday. Swelling is down a little. Still some stiffness, can't quite all the way bend it like I want to, but it's definitely a step forward from yesterday.
So continue to do the things I'm doing, ice, steam, rest, probably some laser treatment throughout the day today, tomorrow throughout the day, and should be ready to go tomorrow.

Q. So you're definitely expecting to play tomorrow?
PAUL PIERCE: Definitely.

Q. Will you do anything today?
PAUL PIERCE: Probably won't practice today, walk through some things, shoot some free throws. I don't have any plans to risk further injury. That's about it, just do a lot of treatments, walk through some things and see how it feels tomorrow at shootaround.

Q. I've been told to ask you about morning sessions and IHOP back at Inglewood.
PAUL PIERCE: That's a different story (smiling). Scott told you that?

Q. In a Datsun 210.
PAUL PIERCE: I don't know what he's talking about. Is he talking about my first car (laughter)? Scott's coming to town, that's why.

Q. What did he mean to you? And if he was not part of your life, do you think you'd be sitting right there now?
PAUL PIERCE: Well, I mean, for people that don't know who I'm talking about, Scott Collins is a guy who helped me on my road to get here. He was a police officer in LA who kind of took me under his wing when I was a kid, got me really into sports, basketball and other things, and came to the gym for me at 6:00 in the morning and helped me out. He'll actually be out here today and will come to the games throughout the series. He was definitely very instrumental in my life and in basketball.

Q. Did you do the morning sessions because you wanted to or because he wanted you to?
PAUL PIERCE: He asked me if I wanted to be in the gym, and I'd be like, yeah, this is what I want to do. I want to get to the gym before everybody else had a chance. When you look at it, it was kind of nasty because you went to class all sweaty at the time. But hey, that's what you had to do back then to get to this point.

Q. Following up on that, what do you think that that did for you in terms of keeping you away from maybe other influences in the neighborhood? And do you trace things like your work ethic and development back to the morning sessions?
PAUL PIERCE: Definitely. It helped me get a work ethic and it helped me sacrifice. Who wants to wake up at 5:30 to go to the gym? I know nowadays I don't (laughter). But then you were a kid who had dreams and tried to develop a work ethic. Those were the things that you wanted to do, getting to the gym early because throughout the day there wasn't probably no other times you could get into the gym. Any chance you got you wanted to get in, and that's pretty much where it all started. It started just being disciplined early in the morning when you woke up and just developing a work ethic.

Q. Was it also just a good healthy place to be spending time as opposed to some other things that were going on in the neighborhood at the time?
PAUL PIERCE: It was great to get in the gym at 6:00 a.m. I didn't really see too many gang members out or bad things happening at 6:00 a.m., but it did help me just kind of stay away from a lot of negative things you could have got into, I guess.

Q. You know your own body better than anybody, how much of a challenge is it going to be for you to get out there tomorrow and not think about the injury and just think about the game? Is it a tough challenge to do?
PAUL PIERCE: I think it's going to be easy as far as handling it mentally because once you step foot on that court, hear the crowd, you look up and you see posters of The Finals, I'm totally going to probably forget about it. From there on my adrenaline will probably get going. Usually you tend to forget about injuries when you're on that court and you're playing for something special. That's what you dream about all your life.

Q. Kevin was just in here and said that he was confident in your ability to be able to play through some pain or discomfort because there were a lot of times this year a lot of people don't even know about. Have you gone through anything like this before with the knee? And does that at all give you confidence that you'll be able to do that tomorrow?
PAUL PIERCE: No, not with my knee. I never had too many major problems with my knee other than tendinitis. But knowing my threshold for pain, to go out there and play shouldn't be a problem. It should be something I should be able to do, but it definitely was a scary -- knowing that something is going on in your knee that is painful and definitely haven't experienced anything like it. But I think tomorrow with a little more treatment and rest, once those lights come on and the popcorn starts popping, I'll be ready.

Q. What specifically, is it range of motion or what specifically is it does tweak it at you a little bit when you're out on the court with that knee?
PAUL PIERCE: I think mostly my range of motion, just being able to squat all the way down. I can't quite do that yet. My walk is pretty good actually, but when I go down into a squat position, that's when I feel it the most, when I bend it. Like if you look at the knee, if you bend it all the way, there's some pain there. But this motion when I'm straight and I'm walking is pretty good.

Q. Coach said that Kendrick was worse off than you today because he's not even going to be able to walk through. If he's not going to be 100 percent what do you guys have to do because people always talk about you, Kevin and Ray, but how important is it if he isn't a hundred percent?
PAUL PIERCE: Other guys have got to be ready. We've gone through injuries in the season, that's part of it. Other guys have to be ready to step up. I think we've got more than enough guys who are capable of stepping up, PJ, Big Baby, Leon Powe if he can't go. We've dealt with this type of adversity. We dealt with the situation when Kevin was out, when Ray was out. So if we have a situation where Perk is out, I think the guys will be important ready.

Q. Have you thought any more about an MRI? Have you had one? And is there any concern on your part about doing further damage, deeper damage with this?
PAUL PIERCE: Well, you think about it, but over the years I've learned my body a lot and I know when it's really, really bad, enough to get an MRI. Do I need an MRI? Probably, but at this point I don't even want to hear what it is, I just want to go out there and play, and after the series I'll be more concerned with it. But as long as I'm able to get out there and run and help my ballclub, that's all I want to do.

Q. Obviously you're probably going to be able to get through the first part of the game on adrenaline, but once you sit down at halftime and things start to stiffen up, will you get on the bike or anything?
PAUL PIERCE: That's something we'll have to think about, keeping warm, going on the bike, have our massage therapist come out and rub it down to keep me warm. So those are probably some of the things you'll have to do, to keep it from stiffening up, especially when you get warmed up and you start playing and you have to sit at halftime and the long time-outs, so it's definitely something I'll have to consider and think about. Just go about the way I feel and go from there.

Q. Also, you mentioned laser treatments.
PAUL PIERCE: Yeah, the laser treatment is something -- we've been doing that. I mean, it's just a ball of light they just circle around your knee. It's nothing major. We do it all the time. It's just like the steam treatment.

Q. In past years did you think of Ray Allen as a great defender? And how do you think he's developed as a defender this year on this team?
PAUL PIERCE: Well, in past years I never thought of Ray as a great defender, but when you look at the top scorers in the league, you never think of any of the top scorers in the league as great defenders because they're so great offensively, and I think that's been the case with Ray. I think since being here he's showed he's been more than a capable defender due to some of the assignments that he's had. He knows in order for us to win we have to play defense, and he's drawn the challenge of guarding Kobe, he's drawn the challenge of guarding Joe Johnson, and he's stepped up that part of his play, regardless of what he's done on the offensive end. He's come to play this year defensively.

Q. KG said after the game, he said he wasn't happy with his fourth quarter at all. He said, "I will do better next time." What do you know about him if he has that mindset, what he's going to come into the next game doing?
PAUL PIERCE: He's going to keep focus. He's going to look at the opportunities he got in the fourth quarter and realize that those are looks that we want him to take and continue to be aggressive with. He's hard on himself. That's what you've got to understand about KG. He's so hard on himself that he wants to play the perfect game. That's what he wants to go out and do every game. Knowing that you can't play the perfect game, but if you strive for it you can come somewhere close to it. We're all like that in our ways, he's hard on himself, and if a bad game is 24 and 13, I can't wait until he has a good game.

End of FastScripts

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