RealGM

I hope so.......

great win. But I'm worried about Pierce and Perk going forward.

Pierce definitely will.

Perk I say is 50-50, but he's tough and will likely gut it out. However, PJ way outplayed him; neither will score and both are great rebounders, but PJ is just way better at covering the pick and roll and stopping Gasol. It was no surprise Gasol went quiet in the 2nd when Brown started defending him.

I do want Perk back though; he has a role here and while he might not dominate like he did against the jumpshooting big men in Detroit, I still think his D, energy, and rebounding will help us win another game in this series.

No clue on perk. All we got is that he was at 60%

As for paul, I am worried. He is not downplaying the injury whatsoever. I think he will, but I just don't know how bad his knee is roughed up.

If they're alive, I imagine they'll play. Paul seems to live for moments like this, so I'm not so worried about his effectiveness, as for Perk we'll see how he reacts. I have faith he'll still be solid in the paint.

They'll play, they have 3 days off, so it's all good

Pierce will play I just don't know who well or how much.

Perk is another issue he is the slowest player on the court so hobbled he isn't helping anyone. I thought he played well and was getting screwed by the refs no more obvious than on the play he was hurt.

I am also worried about Odom just exploding in game 2. So Posey may be front and center in game 2 anyhow.

If Pierce could play that well tonight -- yeah, I'm pretty optimistic about two nights from now.

TOMORROW might be hard, but he doesn't have to play, or travel, tomorrow or the day after.

Perk has always been a bit injury-prone, so I'm more worried about him.

It was kinda messed up how most guys on the game thread here didn't give a damn about Perk getting hurt (and the crowd giving him a half heated cheer) and glad he was out because he was the reason Pierce was hurt as if he intentionally tried to hurt him. I know Perk played pretty bad, and Pierce is the Captain but they are both Celtic Players!!!

I'm pretty sure Paul will play on Sunday. Perk will probably play and how was that a foul on him when Fisher fell on his ankle?

Let's just say good thing for the 2 days off, I don't see Pierce missing any games even if both of his legs fall off.

Pierce will play.
Perk on the other hand might not...

You'd literally have to kill Pierce to keep him out of game 2!

I'm worried. We need three more wins while 40% of our S5 is hurt :-?

If that wasn't a stunt by PP, I think he got incections to get him going. How often will that work during the next two weeks?

If I can breathe, I can play.

- Paul Pierce

Please. They will both play.

After the game, Pierce was walking with a pronounced limp as he exited the post-game interview room and headed back to the locker room, but some 45 minutes later the injury was clearly bothering him more.

As he walked to his car, Pierce was still wearing his warm-ups. The snaps along the right side were hanging open, revealing a wrapping of several ace bandages from the bottom of his calf to the top of his thigh, an additional layer of white tape wrapped around the lower half of his hamstring, ending just above his knee.

Pierce's feet moved no more than 12 inches with each step, and as you watched him begin to navigate the four flights of stairs from the locker-room level to the players' parking lot, you couldn't help but wonder exactly how much adrenalin had fueled his comeback, and whether that knee injury wasn't going to end up keeping him out of Game 2, or at the very least reducing him to 50 percent of the player he usually is.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... ime-080606

Yes, and yes.

I think Paul will play but I don't know if he will be effective at all. the injury sounds season ending from the media reports..

It's the Finals. They'll play

I have my doubts about Pierce. We will know more today when the swelling sets in. If I were to guess, I say he plays. But I'm thinking this will be like Billups. Where he ends up sitting a lot because he is ineffective.

I am worried but along with that I would expect nothing positive about this in the media over the next few days. There is almost no advantage to making it sound like he will play. Saying he won't prepares the team, the fans, and the media for that it also puts the Lakers in a predicament.

What they did in Game 1 clearly did not work. Unlike Boston whose game to game adjustments tend to do with simple adjustments as far as energy and aggressiveness. The Lakers adjustments are more complicated as far as running that Triangle offense, which collapsed in the second half, against the C's defense as well as finding away to make Gasol less of a victim in the post which will only get worse once this team reviews tape. Perk will be a big loss on the defensive end but Powe and Baby could take it to that dude in the post, he is as limited defensively as advertised. Having to plan for Pierce being in or out only makes it that much more complicated.