Fans have dim view of star

The vox populi understandably prefers the luminaries. Thus, you have Paul Pierce experiencing arguably his finest year -- albeit on a losing team -- and nowhere near the top two forwards in the fan All-Star voting. That is unlikely to change in ensuing vote counts, which means, once again, Pierce's All-Star fate is up to the Eastern Conference coaches.

Pierce has been a coaches' selection in each of the last four seasons and sees no reason why that should change this year. As he put it before registering 31 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds in last night's 109-106 victory over Charlotte, ''I can't think of 12 players in the Eastern Conference who should be ahead of me. But that's not up to me. The fans pick the first five and the coaches pick the next seven. Sometimes, your [team's] record can play a part."

In the latest vote count, Pierce was ranked sixth among Eastern Conference forwards, trailing the two leaders, Cleveland's LeBron James and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, by a considerable margin. Ricky Davis was not among the top 10 vote-getters at guard, while Raef LaFrentz was ranked eighth among centers.

Pierce said he would be ''disappointed" if he wasn't included on the Eastern Conference roster. But, he added, ''that would also allow me to get some time in [Las] Vegas," where he owns a home.

Fan voting concludes Jan. 22 and the starters will be announced Feb. 2. The reserves will be announced Feb. 9. The All-Star Game is Feb. 19 in Houston.

Lower the boom

The Bobcats were without Emeka Okafor and Sean May, which is to say a sizable part of their front line. Okafor has missed the last seven games with a badly sprained right ankle suffered Dec. 19 against Sacramento. He still is ranked among the top 15 shot-blockers at 1.92 per game. May has been out with right knee soreness since Dec. 20 and missed his ninth game of the season last night. Additionally, Charlotte was without Melvin Ely (right ankle sprain) and lost Kareem Rush with a sprained left index finger in the first quarter . . . Danny Ainge, in his weekly radio appearance on WEEI, hinted Indiana's price for Ron Artest might well be Pierce. Needless to say, the conversation ended then and there. Ainge said he has talked with the Pacers, but things have not gotten remotely serious.

Not quite Allen's time

Tony Allen was thisclose to being activated. (Where have we heard that before?) But he gave coach Doc Rivers a thumbs-down and instead will try to make it through practice today unscathed. That would then lead to a likely activation for tomorrow night's game with Atlanta. Allen has not gone through a real practice since before Christmas. ''I'm pretty much ready," he said before the game. ''I'll get in a practice and hopefully be ready." Rivers said he thought about activating Allen but acceded to the player's request to have one more workout. Asked what he would have done had Allen given a thumbs-up, Rivers said, ''I would have activated him." Allen has yet to play this season while recovering from right knee surgery in September . . . Kendrick Perkins played four minutes after going five minutes in Denver Monday . . . The Bobcats' 100 shots is nine shy of the franchise record set last year against the Suns . . . Brevin Knight picked up a technical foul and each team was whistled for a defensive three-second technical . . . Tony Brown, the Celtics' assistant coach, remained away from the team due to a death in the family . . . Six members of the US Olympic biathlon team were in attendance . . . Celtics principal owner Wyc Grousbeck wore a black suit with green pinstripes to the game. How best to describe it? ''Garish? No. Advanced," Grousbeck said, adding that the suit was custom made in Florence, Italy, and that the Celtics are 5-0 in games where he wears it . . . Al Jefferson turned 21 yesterday, but said he had no plans to go out and celebrate with a legal beverage. ''Mama wouldn't like it," he said . . . Pierce was 11 of 17 from the field and, in his last three games, is shooting 28 of 43, including 4 of 7 from 3-point territory.

Defending the practice

Pierce said he felt the Celtics spent more time on offense than defense in practice and maybe needed to reverse that. ''Then again, with coach [Jim] O'Brien, all we did was practice defense and that's why we were so bad on offense," Pierce said. When told of Pierce's remark, Rivers cracked, ''Well, when you're practicing offense, someone is playing defense. That's the problem [with Pierce's remarks] right there." But, the coach quickly added, ''You always practice more offense. You have to keep the continuity going." Rivers did reiterate a constant theme -- the coach has to do a better job on defense. ''At the end of the day," he said, ''it's still the coach's fault."