Pierce keeps playing when he shouldn’t

I love Paul Pierce.  He's one of the best players in Celtics history.  He's one of the most underrated stars of this generation. 

But man… he's pissing me off lately by playing when he shouldn't.  Today he admitted that playing in the All Star game was a bad idea.

Why did you play in the All-Star Game if you had to have your
knee drained after it?

I felt good at the time but after the game it kind of swelled up a
little bit. I noticed and couldn’t bend it all the way, so right after
the game I had a doctor come in and he had to drain it. When you drain a
knee it kind of takes a lot out of your strength in your body and I
missed a few practices after that and it was something I wanted to be a
part of and I was healthy enough to be a part of, but I just think if I
had to do it all over again I probably would have sat out. How many more
opportunities am I going to get to play in the All Star Game? I’m
getting a little bit older, my career is winding down and I thought it
was something I was healthy enough to play in. It was something I needed
done and that usually takes a couple of weeks to get all the way back
right. It’s been the little things through the course of the season that
has hampered me like that, like the thumb and the foot.

Yeah Paul… we know that it might have been your last All Star game and that's hard to pass up.  But it might also be your last shot at a title.  What's more important? 

Oh… and all that stuff about the Celtics being bored?

I don’t think guys are bored with the regular season. I think it’s a
bunch of crap of being bored with it. It’s a process. You have to build
up for the playoffs. You have to be consistent in what you do. You don’t
just go out here and just be a great shooter. You have to go out there
and practice at it and that’s what the regular season is. It’s
practicing for the playoffs, developing some consistency and developing a
way that you play going into the playoffs so you are sharp and you are
ready. Just to be bored with the process, I don’t think you can win that
way. We’ve been inconsistent because some of it has been injuries and
some of it has been defensive inconsistencies. We’ve been a great
defensive team over the last couple years and I think that’s something
we have to do better at. We haven’t been as strong as a rebounding team
as we have in the past. I think some of that has to do with changing
players, some guys getting older and a number of little things like
that. Once the playoffs role around where you aren’t traveling as much,
you are playing one team and have a chance to scout them over a period
of time, that’s where we will be better and more consistent in what we
do.

Bunch of crap?  Tell that to Rajon Rondo… who said, and I quote: "We are getting bored with it some"

God I hope he's right about the being a built for the playoffs.