Doc blames himself for loss, Pierce might retire this summer


CSNNE, A. Sherrod Blakely
"Again, you keep learning your team," Rivers said. "I thought we came out almost in a slow, cool mood, and I thought I activated that somehow."

Although most of his players were on the floor for their usual allotment of minutes, it was how those minutes were doled out that Rivers, in hindsight, saw as being problematic.

"By sitting them that long and not playing them a lot in the first half, I thought I may have lost their rhythm."

There was no question that from the C's perspective, there was a lack of fire from the very start of the third quarter. And even as the Raptors steadily pulled away, the urgency was still missing up until the last couple of minutes.

Doc's plan was to give his starters rest early, and then bring them back late in the second quarter. However, that backfired on him. The Celtics bench built a 13 point lead in the second quarter but once the starters came back in for good, well, you know what happened.

After the jump, The Herald on Pierce contemplating retirement


Boston Herald, Steve Bulpett
The conversation began innocently enough. The Celtics [team stats] captain was brought into a discussion about tomorrow being the club’s last visit to New Jersey, with the Nets moving to Brooklyn next season.

“Well, I figure this might be my last time anyway going to Jersey,” Pierce said before last night’s 84-79 loss to the Raptors. “This could be my last year playing.”

He then laughed, making it seem he was perhaps kidding. But he didn’t step back when asked about it further.

“You never know, man,” Pierce said. “I don’t know. I’ve got to preserve my body for the rest of my life.”

Hit with the basic John McEnroe line — you cannot be serious — he shook his head.

“I don’t know,” said the second-leading scorer in Celtics history. “I’ve thought about it. I don’t know. I’ve got to see how my summer goes with my kids.”

It was noted that he is scheduled to make a lot of money next season ($16,790,345), and there are partial guarantees for the year after.

“Yeah, but I don’t play for the money,” Pierce said.

We've heard all about KG's possible retirement from Jackie MacMullan last year, but I think this is the first time Pierce has given hints (well this is a little more than a hint). If Pierce retired, it'd be hard to imagine Ray or KG coming back to Boston.

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