Paul Pierce has been playing through a pinched nerve for two months


Possibly lost in all of the KG "retirement" hoopla last night, was the news that Celtics captain Paul Pierce has been playing through a pinched nerve in his neck for the past two months. The news was originally reported by C's President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge during a 2nd quarter sit down with Mike & Tommy, a weird move considering Pierce himself hadn't admitted mentioned it yet.

After the game, Pierce confirmed that he's been playing banged up.

It's getting better. It's something that's been bothering me probably for like the last two months. It's getting better, though. The last couple weeks have been better than it has been

Well at least it's getting better. I mean what else could possibly happen to this team? To paraphrase Lloyd Christmas in the greatest movie of all time, "We got no Rondo, no Sully, no Barbosa, KG's going to retire, PIERCE'S HEAD IS FALLING OFF!"

Alright so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, after all I don't believe one comment in a post game after a tiring stretch of games means Garnett is retiring. Not by a long shot. In fact, the only way I see it happening is if the Celtics trade both Pierce and Rondo and go into rebuild mode. $26 million dollars is a lot of coin to leave on the table (I know he's made $300 million - but still. How often does this happen?) when you're still a legitimate All-Star caliber player, playing for a good team with two of your best friends.

It's also good to hear that Pierce's neck situation is getting better. Hopefully five days off is exactly what the doctor ordered, and PP is back to 100% when the Celts take on Denver on the 19th.

Next on the to-do list? Picking up a few warm bodies to help out the current squad. I've already gone over the guard options, and now Ainge really needs to figure something out. A ten man roster where two players are strictly 'break glass in case of emergency' types is just not enough to tackle a grueling West Coast road trip. Not when three of your eight rotation players (KG, Pierce and Terry) have played in nearly 4,000 career games over 47 combined seasons.

So here's hoping that the All-Star break brings the Celtics rest, a clean bill of health, and at least one new player. They're going to need it.

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