Where was he four years ago?

Someone asked Tommy Heinson what he thought of the Celtics' slow start. He said that it wasn't bad considering that six of their players were younger than 22. After all, they're just kids.

The problem is Celtic veterans play like kids too. Paul Pierce never played with an All Star veteran, so a person that he would respect never told him to shut up, to stop whining, to actually pass, etc.

This year Gary Payton's saying something: ``He needs to make some changes, but it's been like four years that he's been taking those type of shots and stuff like that,'' Payton said. ``Now he has to understand that that's got to go. He's getting a little deeper into his career - he's more than seven years deep - and those shots are not going to make it for you. You can be the man here scoring 20 or 30 points, but you're not going to win basketball games, you know what I'm saying? He's going to learn. I think he's going to have to learn the hard way. It's going to take somebody like myself to keep talking to him, but he'll get the picture. I know he doesn't feel good after these games. I know he doesn't. So he's going to look at it and he's going to figure out what's going on.''
Asked how much easier Pierce's life would be if he'd tune in to the running game, Payton shook his head and rolled his eyes.
``A lot easier,'' he said. ``A lot easier because then he'll get more (wide-open) shots off penetration. If they keep seeing me penetrate, they're going to start sucking in. His man is going to start leaving. He's got to understand that. He's been so used to him on the ball, making tough shots and doing his thing. He don't understand it can put a lot more years on his basketball career if he gets these wide-open looks and doesn't tear his body up.''

Hopefully, Pierce will listen.