Here was Paul Pierce at his best, when the Celtics needed him the most. Here was Pierce “giving the game what it needs,” as he likes to say.

This one needed him. Lots of him. And that’s what he gave.

It came on a day when the Celtics showed up at Philips Arena in an 0-1 hole, without the suspended Rajon Rondo but believing that Ray Allen would be able to finally put the pain and stiffness of a gimpy ankle in the past and give the team what it needed from him.

“I was almost positive he was playing,” Doc Rivers had said before the game. But Allen not only couldn’t play, he couldn’t even do his pre-game shooting.

“We just don’t know what to do,” a dejected Rivers said of Allen’s continued absence. “… We’re definitely at a loss.”

via Ken Berger of CBS Sports