Pierce senses turnaround

--The Celtics gave a game away Thursday against the Lakers and had no energy less than 24 hours later in a loss to the Raptors. But they have been looking more like themselves in the last couple of weeks.

Paul Pierce isn't surprised that his team has come around after some bad early losses.

"Not at all," he said, "because when you come into the season and we sit down in (coach Doc Rivers') office and we go over the Eastern Conference, we thought we'd be in it.

"I think were a little unhappy where we are at right now -- you know we don't want to be in the seventh seed. This is not surprising to me. We feel like we should be in the top three or four teams in the Eastern Conference.

"But I'm happy with the way we've been playing as of late. This is the team that I've come to expect, especially from the beginning of the year to be playing like this. We are starting to put some wins together. We are starting to play better basketball on both ends of the court."

--Doc Rivers was an excited fan sitting a few rows from the court when his son Austin hit the winning three-pointer for Duke at North Carolina on Wednesday.

And he thinks it was more enjoyable than a game he's working.

"That was a lot of fun for me," said the coach. "When you see your kid play and do well, that's always a ball. You don't have to worry about calling a timeout or anything else. You can be emotional and have fun. As a fan, it ranks at the top. Usually I'm in the fray, but as a fan it's the best. It's a different emotion. Just a lot of fun.

"I was just nervous," Rivers went on. "I'm a parent. Whatever you do, just do it well. I was pretty sure after the five-second mark that he was shooting the three. I didn't know if it was going to go in or not. I didn't know what he was going to do."

Rivers believes flying to Austin's games gives him a positive break from his work with the Celtics.

"I don't know if it's therapy because you're insane at the games," he said. "But it has been good therapy for me. Since I've been here I get to see the kids and their good moments. There's bad moments, too, at times when a kid struggles. It's the highs and lows of a normal parent. (Wednesday) was a good one."

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Awful. I mean, we were awful. We've been playing too well for this to go back down this road again... If they want to use the overtime (Thursday) night (as an excuse), then we are not mentally tough enough to be a winner." -- Doc Rivers, after the Celtics trailed wire-to-wire Friday in Toronto after an overtime loss to the Lakers the night before.

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