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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 15, 2009Paul PiercePHOENIX, ARIZONA Q. Can you talk about going from the energy of your regular season game to trying to find some kind of a flow in a game like this? PAUL PIERCE: In a game like this, there really isn't any flow. You don't really have the practice time. You just go out there and to the best of your ability try to blend in with the rest of the guys. But knowing that you are trying to win but also have fun. Q. Can you talk about Bill Russell being named after MVP award, one, and, two, a year late from you getting in. I'm sure you would have liked it to be the case when you got the award? PAUL PIERCE: I saw it at the press conference yesterday. I said it would be nice to win the Bill Russell Award. I think it is great for a guy who has done so much for the game of basketball to be honored with such a prestigious award. I think it is a long time coming because this guy is an ambassador of the game and has done so much for the game. I think it is great for the game of basketball to have Bill Russell's name on such an award. Q. Can you talk about Shaq's pregame performance? PAUL PIERCE: I thought it was pretty good. I thought -- he said he free-styled it, but I think he kind of -- I think they practiced that a couple of days. But it was pretty good, but he said he free-styled it. I don't know. Maybe you guys can get the real answer from him. Q. Was he a natural at it? PAUL PIERCE: It was good. He put on a show. That's what Shaq does. Q. What did you say to Bill before -- I mean, when he got the cake? Anything you said to him? PAUL PIERCE: I just wished him a happy birthday. You know Bill when he is on the sideline, he is joking, he is having fun. And that's all. Q. You guys are going to have a big rest before you get to play again. What does it mean to have that instead of last year when you had just a day? PAUL PIERCE: I think it is great, to give our bodies a chance to heal. Guys with a number of injuries we've had in the last couple of weeks, hopefully going into the second half we can have -- we can be 100 percent, especially with the last 27 games left as we make our playoff push down the stretch. Q. You talked about with this team, the Celtics team giving the game what it needs. All-Star Game, how is that different for you in trying to find what the game means for you? PAUL PIERCE: Really, I'm just out there having fun. Previous All-Star games I haven't really played as much. I mean, for me to go out there and play 19 minutes, that may be a career high in the All-Star Game. I don't know. It is just really having fun out there. It is not about -- we are not running plays. We are just -- it is like a pickup game and playing with the best players in the world. Q. With that in mind, what did they do that enabled them to pull away? PAUL PIERCE: They went to Shaq. We had Rashard Lewis on him. We had a small team tonight. We were at a disadvantage I thought. Especially with Chris Bosh being hurt, I think that really hurt us when we subbed out and had to go small versus the bigger bodies in the West. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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