Was Paul Pierce faking the injury?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

LA Times Columnist Bill Plaschke believes that Paul Pierce may have been faking his injury. The thought crossed my mind too but I think if they were going to do that, they should've done it in at least game 5 if not later. Not game 1.

Heres an excerpt from Plaschke's article:

When Pierce crumpled on the floor after being apparently faked out of his kneecap by Kobe Bryant with 6:52 left in the third quarter, the Lakers led by four points.

When he returned after just 1:45 had ticked off the game clock, the Celtics led by one.

The "Rocky" theme played. The crowd roared. Pierce hobbled out with drama dripping from every step.

He was so hurt, he immediately began sprinting around the stunned Lakers defenders.

He was in such pain, he hit consecutive three pointers late in the period that gave the Celtics the lead for good.

At which point, a Lakers season filled with colorful adjectives had been reduced to one word.

C'mon!

Afterward, Pierce played the part of the resurrected hero, shaking his head at the wonder of it all.

So what do you guys think? Do you think it was real or theatrics?