BOSTON -- Paul Pierce takes things personally, and he wants his team to do the same.
Following a 112-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, the Celtics captain expressed his desire for the green and white to get back to their gritty ways to change their recent struggles.
"We're a grind-it-out type of team," he said. "We can play in the hundreds, but we're a team that likes to grind out wins. We don't mind playing a game in the 80s, 90s, or getting defensive stop after defensive stop. So we have to go back to that, understand who we are.
"For us to do damage here in the Eastern Conference, that's the type of team we've got to be. It's got to come from everybody. We've got to all look each other in the mirror. It's not just one in particular person. It's the starters starting out, it's the guys on the bench, it's the team game, so we've got to take it personal as a team and go out there and do something about it."
His words have already resonated with his teammates. Newcomer Courtney Lee expressed the same sentiments before Pierce addressed reporters.
"Everybody's pretty much upset about it," Lee said of the Celtics recent losses. "Especially because that one in Detroit was a tough one. Then coming here and losing on our home court, this is what we definitely need to protect.
"For the goals as far as winning big ... and we're trying to get home court advantage, these are games we can't let slip away. We're definitely frustrated and upset about that."
The Celtics will look to change their recent results on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the TD Garden.