First, there was Pierce's postgame interview with ESPN sideline reporter Doris Burke, seconds after the Celtics finished off their 95-92 win in Game 2. With the adrenaline flowing, Pierce unloaded an extra-large serving of bravado to the national TV audience.
"Our fans aren't going to let us relax," he shouted to the camera. "Y'all are not going to let us relax. We're going to try to close this out in two games, you hear me? We're coming home to close it out."
He then gave a wink, and walked off.
Two days later, Pierce has had some time to reflect. He knows he's still confident, and he isn't at all worried about getting carried away.
"It wasn't a big deal to me," Pierce said on Thursday of his postgame attitude. "I'm just saying I want us to go home, I want our crowd to be ready, I want us to play our best and I want us to win two games. That's it."
Next, there was The Tweet.
An update shortly after midnight Tuesday night on Pierce's Twitter page taunted the Magic in the wake of Game 2, asking "Anybody got a BROOM?" Speculation immediately arose that the tweet was not authentic, and sure enough, Pierce's digital branding agency Athlete Interactive released a statement early the next morning. Pierce's account was hacked, they said, and any updates should be ignored.
At Thursday's practice, we got confirmation from the captain himself.
"I'm not going to say that on a tweet," Pierce said with a laugh. "I think that's pretty unprofessional. That's not something I would say like that. I would probably talk some trash and say some things on the court that I wouldn't say here [to the media], but I definitely didn't say that."
The Celtics have learned their lesson from all the media attention they've gotten the last two days. Confidence is good, and when you're up 2-0 over the hottest team in the NBA, it's certainly justified. But it shouldn't go too far. The Celtics know how to respect that fine line.
"We've got to understand that we're a classy organization," Ray Allen said. "We've got to make sure that we operate that way, regardless of what the outcome or the standings are."
That's the right attitude. Going forward, the Celtics will understand that.
