Mickael Pietrus Still Thinks About Hard Fall in Philadelphia ‘Every Time I Drive to the Basket’

BOSTON — It is not often a person willingly returns to the site of his worst nightmare.

Mickael Pietrus will be back in Philadelphia, where he took a hard fall March 23 that resulted in a concussion and almost two weeks' worth of missed games, for the third game of the Celtics' Eastern Conference semifinal series on Wednesday. The professional athlete handbook stipulates that a player in Pietrus' situation should deny any lingering doubt over the scary incident and boldly declare that he will drive to the basket again without hesitation.

Pietrus is not one to tell lies, though. He admitted prior to Monday's game that he remains tentative about taking the ball to the hoop, and that facing the Sixers only adds to his uncertainty.

"Especially when we play Philly, it reminds me a lot of my injury," Pietrus said. "It could have been worse for me, but God protected me. Every time I drive to the basket I have that feeling like, 'I'm going to get hurt again.' That's why I'm always now not trying to drive to the basket. Hopefully, it's going to be better next year, but right now I'm just afraid of falling again."

Pietrus was mired in a 4-for-17 shooting slump in the playoffs before he hit two clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter on Monday. If he had any qualms about going to the hoop, he ignored them on his first shot of the game, when he drove for a tough layup 17 seconds after entering the game in the first quarter.

Pietrus said he spoke to Sixers guard Lou Williams, who committed the foul that sent Pietrus tumbling to the deck, prior to Game 1.

"He's still my friend," Pietrus said.

Pietrus and the floor at the Wells Fargo Center are not so friendly, but the Celtics swingman will have to face his fears very soon.

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