"Paul Pierce made the lonely walk to the Celtics locker room with his jersey pulled over his head after he was ejected with seven minutes remaining in yesterday's 99-90 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

It was the last image of Pierce, as the Celtics captain was gone by the time reporters were allowed into the locker room.

Pierce's teammates were surprised by his ejection for receiving two technicals in a 58-second span of the fourth quarter.

"A game as big as this game, you rarely see a guy of Paul's caliber thrown out of the game, especially when both guys are having words," Jermaine O'Neal said. "One guy basically jumps into his chest. It's just a natural reaction to have words, but you can't get thrown out of the game, especially when your team is trying to make a run."

Pierce picked up his second technical, which resulted in an automatic ejection, following a brief altercation with Dwyane Wade. The Heat guard ran hard into a Pierce pick along the baseline and the players exchanged words. That was enough for referee Ed Malloy to assess a double technical."