The Final Goodbye to Paul Pierce
One last reminder that The Truth shall set you free
As the Jazz took down the Clippers in Game 7 of the first round, it meant a few things. Many believe this was the last time we’d see a Griffin-Paul-Rivers tandem, as even that trio can’t shake the curse of the Clippers. While all eyes were on the last ride for Lob City, few realized it was Paul Pierce’s final game.
In a twisted way, it’s almost appropriate people didn’t realize it was the final time they’d see Pierce on the court. While farewell tours are usually filled with fanfare and last memories, this year was maybe the most forgettable of his entire career. He only appeared in 25 games, and averaged just over three points. Watching Pierce this final season was like seeing your dad cry. It was an uncomfortable truth that you never want to acknowledge, or embrace.
Pierce shouldn’t be remembered as this decrepit crypt-keeper taking up space on a dying team. Over his 19-year career, he gave us too many memories to just sadly walk into the sunset as a Clipper. He should be remembered for as the clutch shot hitting, smack talking, 10-time All Star that he is, was, and will always be.
The Origin of “The Truth”
One thing we don’t have a lot of in the current NBA is solid nicknames. The most used ones are abbreviations like CP3 or PG-13 because we’ve run out of creativity and live in the laziest era where we can’t even come up with nicknames that are more than just initials and numbers. The only nickname that is constantly used is The Greek Freak, and that’s just because no one wants to pronounce or look up how to spell Giannis Antetokounmpo. “The Truth” was not only extremely catchy, but had a fantastic back story.
Before the Celtics or Pierce were good, Boston traveled to the Staples Center where he put on the first of many iconic games. In his hometown, Pierce put up an absurd 42 points against the defending champion Lakers. This was before anyone knew who Pierce was, and before he was good enough to even be a footnote in the storied Celtics-Lakers rivalry. That day, Shaq made sure people know who he was by proclaiming that Paul Pierce was “the mother f*cking truth”.
Shaq is known for giving himself nicknames on a yearly basis, but this might’ve been his masterpiece.
Trash Talk And Clutch Shots: The Paul Pierce Story
If Pierce is ever looking for a title if he wants a book about his career, that title isn’t a bad start.
Pierce wasn’t just known as a scorer. He was a fourth quarter superhero. The number of fans that have gone home unhappy because Pierce came into their arena and snatched the happiness out of their souls during the game’s final act is astounding. When he was on the court, no lead was safe, no matter how big it was. The clutch gene is a real thing, and Pierce has it. If he ever donated blood, the person who received his generous donation probably got insanely good at whatever it is they did when things got tough. They’re just walking around with the clutch gene, and they didn’t even realize they got it from Pierce.
The first and maybe the greatest comeback of Pierce’s storied career came way back when in 2002, before any titles came his way and before the Nets left dirty Jersey behind. With the Celtics down 21 heading into the fourth, Pierce put on an absolute show at the Garden. He put up 19 points to help complete the largest fourth quarter comeback in NBA Playoff history.
Imagine being a Nets fan and seeing your team with Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin go in the fourth quarter with a 21 point lead. You have to be thinking it’s curtains, and you go on with your day knowing you have a 2–1 lead in the ECF. Instead, Paul Pierce has the game of his career and stomps out your heart with his patented extremely slow euro step. It’s bad enough you live in New Jersey, and then Pierce had to go in and make matters even worse.
That’s what Pierce did. He stepped up, talked trash, and nails threes in your mouth leaving nothing but the awful aftertaste of failure. He may have even one-upped his performance the following year when he put the Celtics on his shoulders and brought them past the №3 seed Pacers in the first round. No moment was better during that upset that when Pierce capped off his barrage of 15 straight points by asking Al Harrington if he was ready and then disrespectfully burying a three in his face to end the quarter.
Rarely do you see murder captured on camera and have an entire nation embrace it instead of charging the man with the crime.
Pierce always did this. He was from the same era as KG, Allen Iverson, and Kobe Bryant where superstars would make sure you were extremely aware about how good they were. He may be the last of the dying breed of superstars with big mouths, with the exception of Vince Carter. There were too many times to count where Pierce’s mouth was going much faster than his legs. There was the time where he told Mario Chalmers he did not faze him even a little bit, or when he told the entire Hawks team they were ugly. Still, nothing encapsulates his trash talking more than the reason why he got thrown out of a playoff game against the Heat.
Nothing like bringing up the fact that Delonte West had sex with LeBron’s mom. Speaking of LeBron…
Paul Pierce’s Battles With LeBron
Pierce’s “rivalry” with LeBron James wasn’t really a rivalry. It doesn’t hold a candle to Bird vs. Magic or other storied rivalries in history. Still, when Pierce was matched up against LeBron, he gave us some of the best moments of his career, like the time he drilled a dagger in The King’s face to give the Celtics a 3–2 series lead back in 2012.
The last meaningful huge shot as a Celtic was one of his best. The Celtics had no business being in that series with the Heat, but Pierce’s shot embodied one last hope for the Big Three.
LeBron and company ended up getting the last laugh when James went full cyborg mode the last two games of the series and buried Boston’s Big Three once and for all. He probably remembered when Pierce out-dueled him back in 2008 during Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals.
It was the best duel in Pierce’s career. James was on his way to being the best player in the league if he wasn’t there already. Still, Pierce’s 41 points helped Boston moved on and kept LeBron out of the finals, something many teams today have an extremely difficult time doing. That 2008 team was incredible, but if Pierce didn’t have that performance, they never would’ve hoisted banner №18.
The Originator of the Big Three
While he wasn’t the mastermind behind the operation, Pierce’s legacy includes his involvement in the first “Big Three” in the NBA. Teams used to be able to win championships with one or two stars, great team play, or by wearing a San Antonio Spurs jersey. In 2008 when Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined Pierce in Boston, it changed the way teams are built entirely.
Now, it seems like every championship team has the same recipe that originated in Boston. Whether it was the Heattles with LeBron/Bosh/Wade, the Warriors with Curry/Thompson/Green, or LeBron yet again when he teamed up with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland, teams are built around the idea that you need three superstars to win a ring. Who knows how long this trend will last, be we definitely know it started in 2008 when Pierce helped raise another banner in Boston.
The Wheelchair Game
This may be the most iconic moment of Pierce’s career, while also being the most controversial. During Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals, the Celtics and the Lakers were going back and forth when Paul Pierce when down with a knee injury. After he was put in a wheelchair and rolled to the locker room, he came out of the tunnel after missing just two minutes of game time with no limp or hitch in his giddy up. It was as if he drank some of Michael’s Secret Stuff from “Space Jam” and came back in the game.
He buried back to back threes later in that same quarter, and pushed Boston to a win in the opener.
Is this moment perfect? No. Is it iconic? Yes.
Pierce will always be remembered for this moment, and that’s fine. Legends are always remembered no matter what. Even though it’s sceptical to think a true real life miracle happened in that Boston locker room to allow that man to hop out of that wheelchair and will his team to a victory, it’s still a memory from his first and only championship.
News flash- not every last memory is perfect. Remember the Willis Reed game? Where the Knicks big man hobbled onto the court despite tearing something in his knee? What people don’t remember is that Reed only scored four points, while Walt Frazier put up a gaudy 36 points 19 assists and 7 rebounds. People will remember is that Reed’s courageous moment helped push the Knicks to a championship, just like people will remember Pierce jogging out of that tunnel and draining back to back threes and fueling Boston’s win.
It doesn’t matter that he either faked it or had the fastest recovery and is a medical marvel. It matters that this moment helped him raise his own banner in Boston. He was the one who brought the iconic cigar smoke back to Boston like Red Auerbach used to do during the Celtics’ dynasty.
Life After Boston
The Truth truly was never the same in any other color but green. Even though his career declined the minute he left the Celtics, he made sure he gave fans more memories, like the time he put up 44 instagrams thanking Boston for the memories.
He continued giving, like when he gave Boston a future by being included in one of the most lopsided trades of all time where the Nets traded every first round pick in the history of the franchise for Pierce and KG. Even after he left Brooklyn in ashes, he gave us one more clutch/trash talking memory during the playoffs with the Wizards.
Even in his later years, his mouth didn’t stop.
So don’t remember Pierce as the bag of laundry he was when he was in LA. Remember him as the last of a dying breed, a superstar with a motor for a mouth. Remember him as the last man to bring the Larry O’Brien trophy home to Boston.
Remember over all else, for years Pierce reminded up the truth shall set you free.
