"After Paul Pierce had a night to sleep on it, the regret was evident as much as the still-lingering frustration. The Celtics captain had put his Game 1 ejection behind him as much as he could have, but early yesterday afternoon a part of him was bracing for a possible phone call from NBA higher-ups.

"It's always a concern when things happen,'' he said, talking to reporters after skipping out on a media session following Sunday's 99-90 loss to the Heat. "It's out of my control. They're going to view it the way they view it and come to a decision.

"I'm definitely worried, because if it's a situation where it affects my team then it was very selfish. It was selfish of me [Sunday], but it would hurt even more if they came to a decision to suspend me if that's what they thought they saw.''"