Paul Pierce appears more interested in his matchup with Carmelo Anthony than his counterpart.

"I'm really going to be focusing in on the defensive end of the floor,'' Pierce said. "Nobody wants to get embarrassed. I have a lot of pride in my game, but at the same time, offensively, I want to make him work, run him off screens.''

Anthony minimized the importance of the matchup.

"I'm not going to try to make this no one-on-one battle between me and Paul Pierce,'' Anthony said. "I can't beat Boston by myself and Paul's not going to beat us by himself."