Celtics' Pierce denies Artest 'D' cause of struggles

BOSTON - Ron Artest doesn't study opponents like his former teammate, Shane Battier, who keeps a book on some of his toughest marks and before each game memorizes tendencies to the point of obsession. Artest, a former Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Defensive Team player, said he doesn't need to analyze moves.

"I've seen them all," Artest said after yesterday's practice at TD Garden in preparation for Game 4 Thursday night of the best-of-seven NBA Finals. "Every move in the NBA I've seen already in New York City."

If Craig Sager were nearby, you would have expected Artest to then turn to him and command, "Say 'Queensbridge'!" as he did on TNT after the Lakers clinched the Western Conference finals.

The Celtics aren't very impressed, however. Paul Pierce struggled for most of Boston's 91-84 loss in Game 3 on Tuesday night, missing his first six shots before finishing with 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the field.

"I don't really see anything he's doing special," Pierce said of Artest's defense.

Maybe nothing special, but while Pierce is averaging 16.3 points per game in these first three games, he is shooting just 36.1 percent from the field. He had 24 points in Game 1, but half of them came from the foul line.

"I thought Paul is getting good shots, he's not making some of them," said coach Doc Rivers, who after Game 3 said he believed Pierce's troubles were more due to early foul issues. "Maybe Ron has something to do with it, but if we get Paul in rhythm and get him on his spots, I feel very confident that Paul will have big games for the rest of the series."

The Lakers felt confident going into the series that Pierce was one player they wouldn't have to be concerned with matchup-wise, because of Artest. The greatest issue remains in the backcourt, with Kobe Bryant working to contain Rajon Rondo while Derek Fisher runs through screens to keep up with Ray Allen. Then there were concerns about Pau Gasol being able to handle the physical game against the Celtics' rugged bigs. But when it came to Pierce, who won the Finals MVP the last time these two teams played in 2008, the Lakers feel confident in Artest's ability to at least contain Pierce as a major scoring threat.

But after failing to give any credit at all to his effort, Pierce may have motivated Artest a little more.

"Paul said I'm not doing anything," Artest said. "I got to play better defensively. I got to go out there and make it affect somebody."

Notes & quotes: After the nightmarish 0-for-13 (0-for-8 from three-point range) performance in Game 3, Allen said, "For me, the next shot is always the best shot, the most important shot." He admitted a thigh bruise suffered early in the game might have had some impact on his lift, but he didn't expect it to linger . . . Nate Robinson missed out on a $1- million bonus that was written into his contract, originally signed with the Knicks last September, that kicked in if his team made the playoffs. Robinson needed to appear in 58 games this season for the bonus to kick in and he missed the mark by two games.