Pierce blames himself for letting down Celtics in Game 1

By Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY

CORAL GABLES, Fla. ? Late Sunday, workers turned the Miami Heat's basketball arena into a facility for WWE's Monday Night Raw event.

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  By Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

  James Jones #22 of the Miami Heat scuffles with Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics resulting in technical fouls in Miami's Game 1 victory of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

By Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

James Jones #22 of the Miami Heat scuffles with Paul Pierce #34 of the Boston Celtics resulting in technical fouls in Miami's Game 1 victory of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

How apropos, given the hype, physicality, antics and heated exchanges in Miami's 99-90 Game 1 victory Sunday against the Boston Celtics.

Who will play the hero in Game 2 today (7 p.m., TNT)? Who will play the villain?

Celtics forward Paul Pierce is public enemy No. 1 here following exchanges with Heat forward James Jones and guard Dwyane Wade that led to his ejection in the fourth quarter Sunday. Monday, Pierce, who didn't speak to news reporters after the game, said he didn't deserve the ejection but blamed himself for forcing Boston to play the final seven minutes without him.

"I've got to do a better job keeping my composure. That's it," Pierce said. "If it's a situation where it affects my team, then it was very selfish. It was selfish of me (Sunday) night."

His first technical foul came for literally getting in Jones' face after Jones fouled him hard. Pierce won't be further disciplined for that.

Fifty-nine seconds later he had profane words for Wade, who had tried to run through his screen. Referee Ed Malloy quickly gave Pierce a second technical that tossed him from the game. Celtics coach Doc Rivers tiptoed between criticizing Malloy's decision without incurring a fine and calling out his team.

"We put ourselves in that situation," Rivers said. "I don't think that was the officials. Obviously, I didn't think Paul should have been thrown out."

Neither Rivers nor Heat coach Erik Spoelstra expect tension to escalate into a problem.

"I don't think it's ever going to get out of hand or anything like that," Rivers said.

His focus remained his discontent with Boston's commitment to offensive execution, particularly second and third options. Only guard Ray Allen (25 points) had a strong offensive effort Sunday.

Miami flustered Pierce, foul trouble prevented point guard Rajon Rondo from controlling the game and forward Kevin Garnett disappeared for stretches on offense, scoring just six points.

Some of that starts with Rondo, who sat the final 11:07 of the second quarter with three fouls.

"If we execute out sets, we'll do a better job of scoring," Rondo said. "It's simple. ? Don't make it too hard. Don't try to overthink the game."

Rondo said it was on Garnett, who was not available to news reporters Monday, to be more aggressive. Rivers also took some responsibility.

Boston likes the offense to go through Garnett, a fine passer and shooter who was in on roughly 24% of the plays during the season, according to the NBA's online analysis tool Stats Cube. In Game 1, it dropped to 12%.

"Kevin's one of our featured scorers," Rivers said, "and I didn't think we did a good job with him at all."

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