A parent's plea? ... Apparently

Pierce got an earful from James's mother

WALTHAM - Paul Pierce really wanted to remain mum on the subject.

But the Celtics captain knew everyone would be interested in what LeBron James's mother had to say to him when she rose from her courtside seat along the baseline of Quicken Loans Arena in defense of her son after Pierce fouled James hard in the second quarter of Game 4 Monday night.

"He knew it was a good foul, a hard foul, and I didn't want to give a layup," Pierce said. "I wasn't trying to hurt anybody."

In an effort to defuse the potential for distraction before Game 5 of the Celtics-Cavaliers second-round playoff series tonight at TD Banknorth Garden, Pierce addressed the matter yesterday.

"I got some texts and I got some calls, but I'm trying to stay on a straight line and focused," said Pierce. "There's a lot of outside distractions you're going to get at this point, and everybody's going to ask me what happened, so I figured I'd get all those questions out of the way right here."

With 4:13 remaining in the first half, Pierce denied James an easy transition basket by throwing a bear hug on him. Both players stumbled out of bounds, near were Gloria James was seated. Gloria sprang into action and gave Pierce an earful, wagging her finger at him.

So, what did she say?

"I really don't know," Pierce said. "She was just coming to her son; that's how moms are when they see something happening to their kids. My mom probably would've done the same thing."

Which invited the question: Could Pierce's mom take LeBron's mom?

"I don't know," Pierce said with a laugh. "My momma's a little older, but she's old school. She's got some tactics. She called me this morning. I talked to her."

Pierce said he knew it was James's mother.

"LeBron had her under control, though," Pierce said.

James declined to speak with the media at Cleveland's practice yesterday in Ohio, but he said after the game, "I told her to sit down with some language I shouldn't have used. Thank God today wasn't Mother's Day.

"Even though that's my mother, the commissioner doesn't care if it's your mother or your kids or anybody. You can't allow fans and players to get involved like that. And I can't afford for my mom not to be at every last one of my games."

Pierce, for his part, was understanding of Gloria James's reaction.

During his high school career, said Pierce, "I know there were a couple of times when my mom wanted to run out onto the court when she saw me take bad falls. But that's just a mother's nature when your child falls to the ground or something bad happens to them, so I completely understand where she was coming from."

No harm. No foul.

Back to normal

In case you were wondering about the mood of the Celtics upon their return from an 0-fer-Ohio trip, coach Doc Rivers reported, "Oh, I think it's normal. We got a game [tonight] and I think our guys are ready to play the game." The Celtics spent yesterday "going over film, as we always do, walked through some stuff offensively and walked through some end-of-game stuff that they hurt us with, and got some shots up," Rivers said. As for Game 5? "We've got to have it," said P.J. Brown. "The first two, we handled our business. The second two, they did what they had to do. Now it's on us to protect home court again." . . . Does this 2-2 series tie feel as urgent as the 2-2 tie in the first round against Atlanta? "They all feel urgent," Pierce said. "A 2-2 series, going into Game 5, knowing that you have to win, we want to try and treat it like a Game 7, because we can't count on winning Game 6. You want to put yourself in a position where you're up, 3-2, take a little pressure off, then go on the road and close it."

Say the Magic words

Magic Johnson, in his capacity as a TNT analyst, remarked after Monday night's loss that the Celtics didn't appear to be a "mentally tough" team. "I don't think you can make that statement [if] you're no longer in it," Rivers said in response. "If you keep moving, and keep going forward, I don't know how you can make that statement." Said Pierce, "Probably the way we finished the game, the last couple of games, it probably showed that. But I think this is a pretty mentally tough group. We've been able to bounce back, even in the playoffs. This is another opportunity to show how mentally tough we are coming into Game 5." . . . Rivers assessed the playoff production of free agent acquisitions James Posey, Sam Cassell, and Brown: "Posey's been terrific, throughout both rounds; Sam has been up and down for us; P.J. Brown has been the biggest surprise for us. He's starting to make that jump shot, which is huge." In Game 4, Brown converted on all four of his field goal attempts, chipping in 8 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 1 blocked shot. "I don't know how many minutes I'm going to play," said Brown. "I don't know if my number is going to be called. That's how it's been. I'm just trying to be ready to go when he calls me." Asked if he was starting to feel comfortable, Brown replied, "As the playoffs got closer I was feeling comfortable with the system. I was on the same page as the guys offensively and defensively. Basically, I just try to be myself. I know I'm not going to get a lot of shots. But my main concern is going out there defending and rebounding. If I get a couple chances to look at the basket and shoot a couple shots, I want them to go in."

Missing person

Cassell, who was 0 for 5 in Game 4 and is 8 for 31 in the series, would have loved to have a few shots go down. "The shots I missed [in Game 4], I swear, if I take 50 of those same shots, I'll make 50 of them," he said. "I just couldn't make a shot and I got all the shots I like to take: stand-still threes, wide-open 10-footer, I missed a 5-foot in the paint, which is my shot. That's how it goes. You can't be discouraged about that. We are back at home. They held serve, like good teams do. And we do understand that, but we have to put some pressure on them offensively."

Marc J. Spears of the Globe staff contributed to this report.