I won’t use his name, because I didn’t clear it with him first, but a lifelong Celtics fan has responded to criticism here (and elsewhere, particularly throughout the L.A. media) of Paul Pierce’s antics in the third quarter of Thursday’s NBA Finals game with the Lakers.

You may recall the story line: The “I’m mortally wounded/I’m off to the OR/Hmm, not dead yet/Turns out I can run/Make two game-turning three-pointers” Pierce sequence in the third quarter that some in the Boston media treated as if it were El Cid riding to battle despite being dead. That others compared to the famous Willis Reed comeback at a critical moment in the 1970 NBA Finals.

And here is the Celtics fan’s view of events:

“Pierce said he probably wouldn’t have played if there was a game Friday. Who knows? I’m sure he would have tried …

“Of course, they’ll figure out a way to play him Sunday, even if he does have some damage in there. It’s the Finals.

“But mostly I’m wondering why there’s all this anger-bitterness-skepticism coming at the guy from the LA side. I don’t find it unusual at all that a player can experience pain, hear a pop in his knee, get scared and get helped off the court until he finds out what’s wrong.

“He somehow planned this out, to deceive the Lakers and make a dramatic return to pump up his team? That’s ludicrous.

“Calling him a faker is like calling Kobe a faker for crumbling to the floor against utah with his back injury, obviously in pain, and then continuing to play. Even the homers in utah didn’t question his injury. Although if Kobe had hit some of those OT shots snd LA would have won, maybe they would have.

“Is it because Pierce got carried and wheeled off? The guy said he heard a pop, there was pain and he was afraid to move it.

“I’m not sure where those of us sitting (and watching) got so smart that we can gauge and judge that sort of stuff.”It’s like the playoff game against New England when LaDainian Tomlinson decided he couldn’t cut on his knee, rendering him useless as a running back, and took himself out. Suddenly he’s getting called a (sissy). So what did he gain by taking himself out? I just don’t see it, other than it’s something to talk about.”

I responded to Mr. Celtic, but it doesn’t seem quite fair to put that up here because it wasn’t intended to be a point-counterpoint.

Though I will add something I noted to Mr. C:

Bill Simmons, espn.com’s Ultimate Boston Honk, after writing about the Pierce-driven despair and joy that whip-sawed Celtics fans in Boston Garden on Thursday … conceded this Friday about the Pierce incident:

“If you’re a Lakers fan, I fully support your right to be cynical about Pierce’s injury and return. If the roles were reversed, and this were Kobe, I would have taken 35 ‘He was playing the injury up just for the Willis comeback!’ potshots at him by now.”

If Pierce doesn’t play the rest of this series, than sure, call it a miracle. But if he puts in 30 minutes the rest of the way out … it’s a joke and a mockery.