Paul Pierce passes out of a double-team in Saturday's Game 1 against the 76ers (Getty Images)

The truth is plain to see, as is The Truth. Boston Celtic legend Paul Pierce has not moved well at all since suffering a sprained knee in Game 4 of his team's first-round series against Atlanta. He suffered a sprained MCL, in fact, and though his next two outings against the Hawks were passable (17 points a contest on 43 percent shooting) his first two games against the Philadelphia 76ers have been downright awful.

Battling both the MCL sprain and all-world Sixer defender Andre Iguodala, Pierce has contributed just 21 points in two games while playing from the comforts of home. Worse, he's shooting just 25 percent from the floor, and he's turned it over seven times in two games. Worse than that is the way Pierce looks — stilted, clearly hobbled, seemingly incapable of making a difference for a Celtics team that has for over a decade relied on his step-back jumper and ability to get to the free-throw line. Much, much worse is the way the Celtics have ceded home-court advantage to the Sixers, and allowed Philadelphia insight into how to stop the Boston attack. As noted by 76er veteran Tony Battie, as quoted by ESPN's Jackie MacMullan:

"I know he's hurt," Battie said, "but Paul's definitely not going to ever admit that to anyone. You can see it. His shot is a little flat. His knee is bothering him, and he's had some foot problems, and his lift isn't 100 percent. But he's still the heart and soul of that team. We know Paul. We know he can get it going. I don't put it past him to come out with a Willis Reed-type Herculean effort in the next game."

The San Antonio Spurs have been a wrecking crew for the past month. (Getty Images)

One night after the Oklahoma City Thunder convinced a lot of people that they were the team to beat in the Western Conference by walloping the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs offered their retort: A measured, professional destruction of the Los Angeles Clippers.

In the 108-92 Game 1 win, the Spurs made perhaps the best point guard in the world look absolutely ordinary. They choked off Chris Paul's patented pick-and-roll game, eliminating his outlet options and forcing him to take contested shots, harassing him into a 3-for-13 showing, five turnovers and his lowest point total since Feb. 4. Without its primary weapon, Vinny Del Negro's team became a half-dimensional one-on-one team, and the results — 92 points, a 7-of-17 shooting performance by Blake Griffin, barely any offensive spark to speak of (save for the excellent bench play of Eric Bledsoe) — spoke for themselves.

On the other end, San Antonio calmly got just about whatever it wanted, wherever it wanted. Of the Spurs' 80 field-goal attempts in Game 1, 65 came either in the paint or from 3-point range, according to NBA.com's shot location statistics, and they made 32 of them (52.3 percent), including a shattering 13-of-25 mark from beyond the arc. That pushes their postseason success rate on long balls to 43.4 percent; the next most accurate team from distance, the Thunder, has hit 38.6 percent. To do all that on a night where point guard Tony Parker — who carved up the Utah Jazz in the opening round (21 points on 50 percent shooting and 6.5 assists in 32.8 minutes per game in the sweep) — but missed 8 of 9 shots, scored just seven points and turned it over nine times in 38 minutes? That's pretty impressive.

Also impressive: The win was San Antonio's 15th straight. (As BDL editor emeritus/TBJ co-host J.E. Skeets noted Tuesday night, it's also the Spurs' 28th in their last 30 games and 43rd in their last 50.) They haven't lost since a 14-point defeat at the hands of the Lakers on April 11 — that was 35 days ago.

But it's not only that they've been winning; it's the way they've been winning. Just how good has Gregg Popovich's team been during its rampaging run? Let's take a look inside the numbers.

I count a total of four references to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Lost Boys' "Blue and Orange," the "ultimate OKC Thunder Anthem" that — while not really new, as it appeared in highlight clips during OKC's playoff run last year — is making the rounds in advance of the team's Game 2 tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night:

1. The first rapper, a gent named Michael Garner, calls himself "Thunder true" at 0:45;

2. The second, whose name appears to be K-Yeags, says that "round here, we Thunder up" at 1:51;

3. The anchor leg of this rap relay, Grazie, confirms the Thundering up at 2:49;

4. Grazie then brings it on home with the song's first actual reference to a player on the team, Kevin Durant, at 2:55: "Damn right, we never miss / KD, no bricks."

You'd think a track intended as a power jam meant to connect with Thunder fans and spur pride in a squad that looked murderous Monday night might actually have some connection to the team beyond the shirts worn by the dudes rapping, but apparently, you'd be wrong. Oh, well. The shirts are nice!