Paul Pierce Named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week

by abournenesn

Apr 2, 2012

Paul Pierce Named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the WeekPaul Pierce rivaled LeBron James with a stellar all-around performance against the Heat on Sunday. And the Celtics captain is being properly recognized for his outstanding play of late.

On Monday, Pierce was named the NBA's Eastern Conference Player of the Week. This is the second time Pierce has won the award this season, also taking home the honors during the first week of February.

Pierce has been dominant over the past three games for the Celtics. To kick off the week, he poured in a season-high 36 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the C's 102-95 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. The captain followed that performance with 20 points and six rebounds in a win over Utah and 21 points and nine rebounds in a 100-79 blowout in Minnesota.

Then, of course, there was Sunday.

In arguably the Celtics' biggest win of the season, Pierce scored a game-high 23 points and pulled in seven rebounds to go along with three assists and two steals in the 91-72 victory over the Heat. But the captain was widely overshadowed, yet again, by the dominant play of Rajon Rondo, who locked down his fifth triple-double of the season.

Kevin Garnett was also nominated for the weekly honor, scoring 24-23-24 and notching two double-doubles in the week's first three games, but Garnett slowed down a bit Sunday with a more pedestrian 10 points and eight rebounds.

In a week that saw the Celtics continue their recent dominance and match the team's longest winning streak of the season, it's just the cherry on top of the sundae for Pierce to be awarded the honor.

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