Paul Pierce Ain't No Gangsta

I did not see the game in question, but the Boston Herald is reporting that Paul Pierce of the Celtics has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for a hand gesture he made toward the Atlanta Hawks' bench during Boston's Game 3 loss on Saturday. It was identified as a possible Blood gang sign, and the league termed it a 'menacing gesture' and so they hit him with a fine.

I only have one question about this: how does *anyone* in the NBA league office know what gang signs look like? Is David Stern or Rod Thorn that well-versed in the street that they're able to identify and then categorize a gang sign? I'm fascinated by this.

Of course, Pierce denies it and says it's something he's been doing all year as a dedication to the team's 'blood, sweat and tears'. Celts head coach Doc Rivers got off this terrific quote that made me chuckle:

“I just don’t know how you interpret what something means if you don’t know what it means.”

I anxiously await Dan Shaughnessey, the uber-white Boston newspaper columnist (Shaughnessey is so white, he makes Vanilla Ice look like Flava Flav), breaking this all down for us.


---JohnnyU