“It feels real good. It’s a satisfying feeling,” Stiemsma said. “Any little stuff like that can give you a little boost during the season. I don’t get caught up in that business side too much. But I do enjoy the positives when they come, so it feels good.” 

Rivers, who raved about the chemistry of this year’s team, said Stiemsma not only contributes to that positive vibe, but has the skill to be an impact player. 

“He can play,” Rivers said. “That’s the main thing. If he couldn’t play but was a great guy, we’d probably send him on his way. But he can actually play and he’s a big guy that can play. And we’re just hoping we can keep developing him to make him a better player.”

It was an emotional night for the C’s captain as he further cemented his place in Celtic history after passing Larry Bird on the all-time leaderboard for second most points in franchise history. Here’s Pierce’s full comments on his achievement, along with reaction from his coach and his teammates:

On Passing Larry Bird: “It was a relief. So much was hanging over me the last couple of days just hearing about it. Knowing that you got a game to play and so many people talked about it and talked about it. I mean that for me, its a great feat knowing that you are going to be up there with all the great Celtics, ya know Larry Bird is probably onoe of the most important players that ever played in this franchise. Just to be up there and have your name up there with them is a great honor.”

On His Video Tribute: “I actually saw little glimpses of it, Doc was talking in the time out, ya know you just try to focus in on the game and you just soak it in, soak it all in after the game. I’ll probably soak it in a little bit more once I go home and sit down and realize what’s really going on. Right now its just, its so fresh in my head right now that the game is over.”

On his standing ovation: “We have great fans. They’ve seen it all from my younger days, from my trials and tribulations, to this point today and its just a great honor just for them to be able to stand up and give me that type of ovation. Being a Celtic for all these years and understanding what it means to be a Celtic and the ups and downs you go through and just to come to this point in your career it really means so much just the support that they have given me over the years.”

Why did he stay loyal to Boston? “Just having confidence in the ownership and Danny. Just knowing how great this franchise can be, knowing the  history, knowing that once this franchise gets back to where it needs to be and if I’m a part of it there’s no other franchise like this in all of basketball. You knew eventually it would turn around. I’ve just always been the optimist just knowing eventually ‘the next year, the next year’ that’s what I always kept saying to myself that it would eventually turn around and it took one summer for us to turn this thing around and I’m just thankful that just my patience was able to pay off.”

On passing Bird, while growing up a Lakers fan: “Well growing up in Englewood I would of said I wouldn’t of been a Celtic, I’m not gonna be a Celtic if somebody was to say it at the time. That’s incredible. In my mind one of the top 5 players that ever played the game. I’m not gonna sit here and say that I’m anywhere near his accomplishments, but just to be mentioned with him with this organization is a great honor.”

Was he forcing it at all in the first half? “I’m not gonna lie, it was just hanging over my head too much, I mean how could it not. With every deep breath that the crowd was taking, every shot that went up you kind of just felt that it was hard to really ignore it and really focus on the game and then coach said ‘hurry up get it out the way.’ It was a relief once I hit the one three so I could just really focus and concentrate on the game.”

Where does this rank for him in career achievements? “Its really hard to think about it right now. I haven’t had a chance to really sit back and think about my career and all the accomplishments I’ve had. It has to be right up there. There’s nothing better than winning a championship, but I’m going to sit back and let it sink all in and put a ranking on it.”

Doc Rivers

On Pierce’s achievement: “It’s just awesome.  I mean, I told the guys you’ve got to have several things: One, is longevity.  The second thing is health.  And then I said the third – and the fourth – the third thing is you’ve got to be old as hell, because you’ve got to stick around a long time.  And then the fourth thing: you’ve got to ball.  You’ve got to play some amazing basketball.  Here.  To do what he did.  You know, passing Larry Bird – that’s impressive.”

On Pierce’s career: “You know, here’s the part I wish people wrote more about Paul: Paul had a chance to leave us when we were bad.  And instead of moaning that he wanted to go to a championship team, he stayed.  And he said, ‘I simply want to be a Celtic and I trust that we’re going to win a title some day.’  He had no reason to believe that, at that time.  I mean, we were pretty awful.  And to me, I wish people talked about his loyalty more, because I think that’s special, especially in this day and time, when everybody’s jumping from team to team.  And that’s their right, too, I don’t begrudge that with anybody, but I do think it’s special that Paul Pierce decided that he wanted to be a Celtic for his life.  And I think that’s pretty cool.  In this day and time, in any sport, I think that’s special.”

Was Paul nervous? “I don’t think Paul’s nervous, ever.  I just – he may have been but I just think he just – you know, pressing may be a different word; I don’t even know that.  I think our guys were pressing more than Paul.  I mean, Paul kept telling them, ‘Just play.’  And they were passing up shots, so it was no fun for me early on because we’ve got to win the game.”

Kevin Garnett on Pierce’s career

“Paul’s from a rough neighborhood, from brothers and a loving mother and family, so he always had a sense of character and depth to him. When it came to basketball, he was always in the backyard working. I remember he was always talking about David Robinson. Couldn’t understand that one, but you know, it wasn’t for me to understand. But you saw the drive, you saw what motivated him, you saw what pushed him. Being in LA, other players were considered better than him, and that drove him from day one. We’ve just had a lot of similarities, a lot of things pushing us, a lot of things driving us as young guys. We just so happen to be best friends and have a lot in common. So congratulations to The Truth.”"

Memphis at Boston

Offensive Efficiency

Memphis: 101.2 points/100 possessions (21st)
Boston: 101.8 points/100 possessions (19th)

Defensive Efficiency

Memphis: 99.8 points allowed/100 possessions (8th)
Boston: 98.0 points allowed/100 possessions (3rd)

Probable Memphis starters: Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Rudy Gay, Maurice Speights Marc Gasol

View from opposing bench: 3 Shades of Blue

Injury Report: Marquis Daniels (ankle) is out. Keyon Dooling (hip) and Jermaine O’Neal (knee) are game-time decisions. Brandon Bass will start if O’Neal can’t go.

The Grizz have dropped five of seven overall, including a meltdown Friday night against the Thunder. I caught up with the boys at ESPNBoston for a quick 3-on-3 for today’s matinee for a quick take on all things Memphis. You can check out the full piece by clicking HERE

1. What’s the biggest concern for Memphis?
Health combined with a competitive Western Conference. The talent is clearly there, but a solid playoff seed will be tough to manage with Zach Randolph sidelined a couple more weeks and so many teams playing well around them. Like we saw last year though, this will be a team to watch when they get healthy.

2. Do C’s still miss TA?
Without a doubt. Allen has continued to improve on both ends of the floor since he left Boston, providing the defensive energy and, surprisingly, now some consistent offense (averaging 10 points per game; 17.3 over in his last three games). Given the fact the C’s would have likely retained Allen had they forked over an extra year or a couple extra million dollars, it still has to be a bit upsetting to C’s fans.

3. Prediction for both games Sunday?
Same score for both games? Wait, that won’t work. Let’s go for a Boston sweep though. C’s, 87-85 in a defensive “thriller,” and Pats get revenge, 23-20.

Coach Doc Rivers initially suggested that the MRI was on O’Neal’s left knee and was a regularly scheduled visit to monitor the chronic injury (he also suffered a bone bruise on his left knee cap last month in the first meeting with Orlando). The team later clarified it was the right knee.

Results were not immediately available and the team will determine his game status after a closed walkthrough on the TD Garden floor on Sunday morning.

This is honestly partially good news, given how poorly he played for most of Friday night. (A mea culpa from me as well on the lack of grades Friday night, which was my fault and not Brendan’s. They will return as scheduled tomorrow afternoon.) With Chris Wilcox coming on strong, Jermaine shouldn’t be missed too much in the interim, although guarding Marc Gasol tomorrow without him will be a chore.

Marquis Daniels and Keyon Dooling also did not practice, and it appears Dooling may be the next guy back in uniform if he can manage to play for a couple days pain-free. Here’s Doc again via Chris Forsberg:

“Keyon is close, but he just can’t breakthrough,” said Rivers. “We thought he’d be back a couple games ago and he did some stuff and got sore again, so we just don’t know.”

Finally, a refreshing take from Rajon Rondo on his rusty and lackluster play last night after a two week absence. Given how much he hasn’t been able to do with a right wrist injury, the fact he came back without even a practice was a testament to the team’s trust in him, but a side effect of the team really having no practice time with this schedule to work himself into shape. Here’s his raw take on his tough night on Friday: (Via Forsberg)

“I try not to get too down, too negative on myself, but I was pretty [bad] last night,” he said. “Realistically, I haven’t touched a ball since Toronto because of the wrist. I’m a right-handed player, so I couldn’t shoot free throws. I beat myself up because I missed three free throws and because of the turnovers I made. I wasn’t strong [enough] to make the pass. That was the sacrifice I made to go out there and play.”

A couple more games to help Rajon re-integrate himself into the offense and get more comfortable with his shooting should work wonders for this team in its quest to get back into the top half of the Eastern Conference. Until then, it could be some more choppiness offensively like we saw Friday night.

We’re back tomorrow morning with the Grizz preview.