Doc Rivers Expects Paul Pierce to Play Better in Game 7

Paul Pierce was awful last night in Game 6 — The Truth only managed 9 points, 5 boards and was held back by 3 first half fouls — but his coach Doc Rivers isn’t too worried about a bounce-back performance in Game 7. From the Boston Herald: “Pierce had just nine points, shooting 4-for-18 from the field and 0-for-6 from long range. ‘It was tough,’ Pierce said. ‘You got an opportunity to close out the series on your home floor. For us to come out and play like the way we did, it’s very tough. I mean, you got to take your hats off to them. They really had a great game. LeBron got hot, playing like a true MVP tonight. We just didn’t recover.’ […] James scored 14 points in the first quarter and never slowed down. He had 30 at the break as the Heat opened up a 13-point lead. ‘He hit a lot of shots that he hasn’t been really making all series. It was a lot of fadeaways from the elbow,’ Pierce said. ‘Sometimes superstars get hot. I’ve had that feeling before and sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it.’ The lone silver lining for Pierce and the Celtics is that there’s a chance for redemption in Game 7 tomorrow in Miami. ‘He’ll bounce back,’ Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ‘Paul is a big-game player. Game 7s are the biggest that you can possibly have. What I saw tonight was I thought he was ready for the game. He just didn’t have a great game tonight. We don’t look into it much more than that, at least I don’t.'”