Celtics captain Paul Pierce [stats] was engaged in a routine pregame chat before last night’s rout of the Philadelphia 76ers [team stats] at the Garden, when he mentioned, “I feel pretty good, for the most part. You know, the normal nicks and bruises that you get during the course of the season. Nothing more than that with me.”

But then it was pointed out to Pierce that last season was pretty special for him - the Celtics [team stats] won the NBA title, his beloved Kansas Jayhawks won the NCAA championship and, oh, yeah, he became a father for the first time.