Paul Pierce like any aging star in sports is now faced with the decline in his skills, the possibility of his career ending, and most importantly, wondering when and where it will end.

Pierce is aware that many a great athlete has ended his career in a different city. Pierce is prepared for that, so now the waiting game is set to begin.

Pierce could easily retire, and enjoy the privilege of playing for one singular franchise, and going out on his terms. Pierce wants to play a few more years, so now he’s stuck with the fact that he might play elsewhere.

According to Yahoo Sports, Greg Dickerson, a sideline reporter with CSNNE is reporting that people close to Paul Pierce are suggesting that Pierce doesn’t believe he’ll be a Celtic next season.

Dickerson for his part, doesn’t think Pierce will be a Celtic anymore either.

“I don’t think they will (bring Pierce back),” Dickerson said Sunday on CSNNE. “And I know that the company that Paul Pierce hangs around in, they do not believe – and I don’t think Paul Pierce believes – that he is going to be brought back next year at $15 million. I know for a fact that people around Paul Pierce have pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that he’s played his final game in a Boston Celtics uniform. Again, Paul wants to stay – obviously for $15 million, but he wants to finish his career in a Celtics uniform.”

“If Paul’s gone, I think without a doubt Kevin Garnett is gone – either by retirement or he finally decides to waive his no-trade clause, and the Celtics maybe work something out with a (Los Angeles Clippers) team,” said Dickerson. “But the list is real short; the teams that Kevin Garnett would go to, there might be two of them on it, and they both might be the Clippers and (Los Angeles) Lakers.”

Pierce can be bought out for $5 million, and you have to believe that Danny Ainge may want to start over. He has some good young pieces on the Celtics now with Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger, and the returning Rajon Rondo.

Ainge is banking on the allure of the Celtics jersey being able to lure a free agent or two in after Pierce and Garnett both come off the books.

For the New York Knicks, it was about playing harder, even if not really much better.

Saving their season would be more about effort than execution.

”Tonight it was just one of them days where you just got to leave it out there on the basketball court,” Carmelo Anthony said.

Now they have to do it two more times.

Anthony scored 28 points and the Knicks avoided elimination in the Eastern Conference semifinals with an 85-75 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 on Thursday night.

Reserves J.R. Smith and Chris Copeland each had 13 points for the Knicks, who trail 3-2 and will need a victory Saturday in Indiana to force a seventh game back here Monday. They are trying to become the ninth NBA team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series.

”I was totally impressed because we met the challenge,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. ”I think as a coach you come into games like this and you want to see who’s going to step up and make plays, and I thought we did that tonight. We were the better team in terms of doing that.”

Anthony, who didn’t make a basket in the fourth quarter of either game in Indiana, made a jumper midway through the fourth quarter after Indiana closed within four points. He followed with two free throws, Raymond Felton made a layup, and the Knicks were never in jeopardy again.

Paul George had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Pacers. They played without point guard George Hill because of a concussion and committed 19 turnovers.

4:00 PM Bulls @ Heat

6:30 PM Grizzlies @ Thunder

Gregg Popovich urged his San Antonio Spurs to raise their energy to almost maniacal levels, because winning the battle on the boards and for loose balls was critical against the athletic Golden State Warriors.

The Spurs responded to their coach’s message, outworking and outmuscling Golden State to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Tony Parker had 25 points and 10 assists, and the Spurs held the Warriors’ starting backcourt to 13 points for a 109-91 victory Tuesday night.

The Spurs outrebounded the Warriors 38-36, forced 14 turnovers and limited them to 16 second-chance points.

”Our energy was good,” Parker said. ”We got the 50-50 ball; that was huge for us tonight. It was a tough turnaround for us in Game 4. We missed an opportunity at the end and we realize that. Tonight we played for 48 minutes.”

Kawhi Leonard added 17 points, Danny Green scored 16 and Tim Duncan had 14 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio.

Harrison Barnes scored 25 points, Jarrett Jack added 20 and Carl Landry 16 for Golden State, but Stephen Curry was held to nine points.

”I was terrible, plain and simple,” Curry said. ”They outplayed us as a team. Individually, I didn’t have anything on either end. (I was) a step slow, my shot wasn’t falling and I was trying to make plays but defensively I lost a little focus.”

Parker took advantage, going 9 for 16 and turning the ball over only twice in 34 minutes.

The Grizzlies are proving they know how to grab an advantage and hold onto it this postseason.

Tony Allen scored on a driving layup to open overtime and the Grizzlies held off the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-97 Monday night to push the defending Western Conference champions to the edge of elimination.

The Grizzlies shook off a first half in which they couldn’t hit shots and the Thunder seemingly couldn’t miss in building their largest lead in this series at 17 points.

But the Grizzlies have yet to lose on their home court this postseason, and they won their third straight and seventh in eight games to grab a 3-1 lead in the series.

”We have an opportunity in front of us that we can take advantage of,” Grizzlies guard Mike Conley said. ”I know our guys are focused. We’re treating it one game at a time. We know they’re going to fight like they have their backs against the wall just like they did tonight. They’re going to play with a sense of urgency, and we have to be ready.”

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, and the Thunder have played in the Western finals each of the past two playoffs. But they don’t have Russell Westbrook in this series.

”It’s not over yet, and we understand that,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. ”It’s the first to four. They’re in a good position, but our challenge is not impossible. It’s something that we can do. We just have to focus one possession, one game at a time. Hopefully, we can do that and come back here Friday night. There’s a barbeque festival right?”

The Grizzlies outscored the Thunder 9-3 in overtime.