Celtics.com is reporting that Pierce went through his first full practice today.

Pierce finished Saturday's practice wearing a green jersey along with Delonte West, Ryan Gomes, Brian Scalabrine and Al Jefferson, and according to Doc Rivers he'll likely start against the Timberwovles on Sunday.

"Today was the first full practice that he's actually been through. He made it through it and it looked like his wind was OK," said Rivers.

An NBA representative stopped by practice to give Gerald Green a rundown of the new rules for the Slam Dunk contest. Green, who first dunked when he was 15, has been studying tapes of prior contests, but says he has something that the NBA has never seen before. That said, word out of New York is that Nate Robinson, a guy who's never been shy about talking, also claims to have a new dunk as well.

Paul Pierce surprised everyone by playing in tonight's game. He played 20 minutes but was obviously rusty shooting 4-16 and scoring 9 points with 4 rebounds and 1 assist. It was good to see him back. He wore a sleeve on his elbow and at one point was holding the elbow after it was hit. After shooting 1-11 in the first half, he did hit 3-5 in the second half.

The Globe is reporting that Pierce was a surprise participant at this morning's shoot around and that he is feeling good after his lastest set back. They are reporting that he may play tonight with limitations on his minutes.

As of now, the limits are 15 minutes for a game and no more than three minutes without a break. "That's hard because you can't even get warm in three minutes,'' Rivers said.
If Pierce does not play tonight, Rivers indicated that the captain would in all likelihood make his return on Sunday in Minnesota.

I have been busy working on the Carnival of the NBA which will be posted here on Monday so haven't had much time to do links and articles. Today is the day that the streak ends. I feel it. There is an article on Tufts Daily that says that all things good and bad for the Celtics end at 16. The championships ended with 16 twenty one years ago. So tonight, the losing streak ends at 16 in spite of Pierce's set back and Wally's third sprained ankle and Perk's plantar fasciitis and Doc's coaching.

Speaking of Doc's coaching, Steve Bulpett has an article that tells us that Doc is hoping to stick around and see this team through to the hopeful end of a championship run. The problem I have with this is that I see Doc's coaching as part of the problem and I don't see the team making significant progress with Doc as the coach.

The Herald Notebook has a medical update on Pierce and Wally. Pierce was released from the hospital yesterday but there is no timetable for his return. Wally is back on the shelf with his 3rd ankle sprain. If it wasn't for bad luck, this team would have no luck at all. This article also mentions that Scal has been hitting his shots and that is good news because he is going to shoot them whether he makes them or not.

Jeff Goodman has a piece in the Herald about Durant and the case he is making for being the first pick instead of the second. He then runs down the consolation prizes expected to be taken after Oden and Durant.

Shira Springer reports that other teams are motivated to play their best against the Celtics so as not to be remembered as the team that lost to the Celtics to end their record setting streak. This is going to make it harder and harder for the Celtics to pull out a win. This is compounded by the fact that with each loss, the Celtics become more and more frustrated and will be tighter at the end of games and their play will deteriorate as each player tries to do too much to win the game.

Eric Weiss has a good piece on Celtics Blog that reviews our options at this point. Danny needs to think in terms of base hits rather than hitting a home run with one player.

SignOnSanDiego reminds us that our current plight didn't happen overnight but it is the result of a long tale of woe starting with the deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis and continuing through the Tim Duncan tank job and Rick Pitino's disastrous reign. With all that bad luck and bad management, it will take a few years of good management and good luck to right this ship. With all the injuries this season, you could consider this season bad luck or good luck, depending on the results of the draft.

Wave3 has a good story on Rondo. The more I read about this kid the more I like him. He is clearly our PG of the future as he just has the tools and court sense you can't teach a player. He has moved to the head of the do not trade list in my opinion.

Yahoo Sports has a good article on Pistol Pete Maravich who has always been one of my heros. One of the biggest tragedies in this league is that he retired from the Celtics the season they won a championship. His legacy still lives in players today as he inspires a whole new generation of players.

Esco33 posted something on Celtics Green that may be reason for hope.

Teams that have had a losing streaks of 15 or more games in the past few years have received the number one pick that following draft.

Examples were:

Rockets with Yao
Cavs with Bron
Magic with Dwighty

Hopefully, next year it will say:

Celtics in 2007 with Oden.

Although they played well and stayed with the Heat early, once again the Celtics faded in the second half and lost their 16th in a row. The frustration is starting to show on the court as Delonte got a Technical for complaining about a call and almost got another later on. The Celtics out rebounded the Heat 48-42 and they had only 11 turnovers to 16 for the Heat, but the shooting was the problem tonight as the Celtics shot 32% for the game.

The Celtics played hard but were just no match for the Pistons. They were down by 16 at the half and fell behind by as many as 22 in the 3rd quarter but fought back and cut the lead to only 7 by the end of the game. Doc let out some of his frustration and drew a technical foul in the 4th quarter as he protested a foul called on Al. No one player stood out tonight but several had solid games.

According to Steve Bulpett of the Herald, Pierce was sent home from Detroit with an elbow infection and fever.

The Celtic captain awoke this morning with bad swelling in the elbow and a high fever. He will be checked by team physician Brian McKeon when he lands later this afternoon. At that time, the severity of the problem will be determined.

“And the hits just keep on coming,'’ deadpanned Doc Rivers.

This is, by the way, the same elbow on which Pierce had offseason surgery to alleviate bursitis that dogged him last year (he missed the last three games after playing through pain for weeks).

Pierce had made the trip here with the Celtics to further his comeback from a left foot stress reaction. But when he came down for the team meeting prior to shootaround this morning, it was evident he was in bad shape.

“He said (Monday) that his elbow was bothering him,'’ said Rivers. “They looked at it but it wasn’t bad at all. But then this morning he came in and we were like, `Oh, my gosh.’ Eddie (Lacerte, the trainer) wanted him out of here quick.

“We’ll see,'’ the coach added. “It’s infected and it’s pretty big. And he’s got a pretty high fever.'’

Is youth the problem on this team? Are the problems we are having unique to this Celtics team? Here are some quotes that could have come from the Herald or the Globe following any of our recent losses...

"We played a strong first half again,' he (the coach) said, "And then we folded our tents again. We missed key baskets. We never made an important shot. When we get everyone involved, we play well. When we don't... I'm not very happy with this."

How do you explain a ... basketball team, that shoots 73 percent in the first half and leads by 13 points - and scores 37 points the rest of the night? How do you explain twenty-nine turnovers and only three offensive rebounds in one evening and just one basket in seven minutes during the final quarter? How do you explain a 108-101 loss to a (team) who had three starters hurt and a reserve guard missing?

And then they come out for the third quarter and it all vanishes in a vapor trail. Balls are thrown out of bounds. The rebounding dries up. The 24-second clock ticks down to the dregs and (one of the players) is still pounding the ball at the top of the key, waiting for somebody - anybody - to move. Three minutes pass without a basket. Seven minutes. And an 81-73 lead becomes a 90-84 hole.

But they just aren't doing it. We have people who are not contributing consistently. Oh, a game here and there they'll do it, but there is not the dedication to concentration that you have to have. There are not a lot of things. There has not been a willingness to work hard for 48 minutes. There are not enough people who want to do the uncomfortable little things that win games - like banging the boards, moving without the ball, playing knuckles down defense.