Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald reports that Paul Pierce isn?t smiling anymore. When it was pointed out that he was outscored by Philadelphia?s Todd MacCulloch, he laughed it off because the Celtics had won the game. After last nights loss to Dallas, with Shawn Bradley outscoring Pierce 10-9, the joke ceased to be funny.

``It's a little frustrating,'' Pierce said after last night's 97-86 loss to the now 9-0 Mavericks. ``It's something I haven't worried about, but it's a little frustrating tonight because we lost. We won six in a row, so regardless of how my shot was going we were winning. I'm not going to be worried about it, but it's disappointing when you lose.''

``I don't have any concerns about Paul's stroke,'' said Celtics coach Jim O'Brien. ``I think he's one of the great scorers in the league. They played zone. And it's a little bit like the man-to-man that the 76ers played when they had (Dikembe) Mutombo. When you have somebody that's a prolific shot-blocker inside, you can push up as hard as you want on the other team's scorers. And what they did with Paul was getting under his chin and making him either pass the ball or making him shoot challenge shots. ``Their response is, well, if you want to drive the ball into 7-foot-6, be our guest. And (Bradley) had five blocked shots.''

Before last night?s game, Pierce had scored in double figures in 78 straight contests. His shooting slump has gone on for four games now. Pierce started out 3-14 against Minnesota last Saturday. Then He missed 8 of his first 11 against Utah. In both games, he was able to finish strong. Against Philly, he finished 4-20 and never got on track. The Mavericks were able to hold him to 4-20 from the field as well.

``It's been difficult the last two games, but that's something I'm not really worried about," Pierce said. "Once I get back into my rhythm, I know I'll be all right. I'm going to just keep playing, keep doing other things. I know I'll be fine. The last couple of nights shots haven't really been there. . . . But I'm never going to be worried about how many shots I miss and how many I make. I'm going to just keep playing the game.''