NBA Hall of Fame Class of 2021: Top 5 moments from Paul Pierce's career
Paul Pierce and eight others will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday, September 11th. The NBA champ, Finals MVP and 10-time All-Star will be presented by his Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets teammate, Kevin Garnett. Paul Pierce is 2nd all-time in Celtics scoring behind John Havlicek, and is 16th on the NBA scoring list. Dubbed The Truth by Shaquille O'Neal, Paul Pierce has had many great NBA moments. Let's count them down.
#5 The wheelchair game June 5th, 2008
I covered this game June 5th 2008 classic. Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals in Boston was as great as any game I've ever witnessed. Boston Garden was so loud. Game 1 featured historic rivals the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, and the atmosphere in the arena was one of the best Finals experiences I've had as a writer. When Kendrick Perkins inadvertently bumped Paul Pierce under the basket after a Kobe Bryant shot, and Pierce went down, there wasn't a soul present that didn't think Paul Pierce was done. Pierce was taken to a wheelchair at that critical juncture in the 4th, and left the game. Sitting in the heights of the Boston Garden, I was able to spy Paul Pierce run out of the tunnel just a few minutes later. It was shocking, and when Pierce checked back into the game, the crowd was so loud you couldn't hear the person next to you talk. In heroic fashion, Pierce hit two big threes to essentially win the game and give Boston a 1-0 lead in the Finals. Pierce has since given a rather dubious explanation, yet nevertheless, the heroics were real.
#4 Scores 19 in the 4th in greatest comeback in NBA playoff history
On May 24, 2002, the Boston Celtics were down 74-53 to start the 4th quarter. New Jersey led by as many as 26 points in the third, and it seemed the Nets would complete the blowout. Unexpectedly, Boston scored 41 points in the quarter -- Paul Pierce had 18 -- to the Nets 16. At the time, the 21 point deficit was the largest in NBA playoff history to overcome. It has since been eclipsed, yet at the time, such a lead was almost insurmountable. The three-point shot as a weapon in this current era has changed that. Pierce had 28 points to lead the Celtics and put Boston up 2-1 in those Eastern Conference Finals. Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Nets, led by Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, won the next three to close out the Celtics and headed to the NBA Finals vs. Los Angeles. The Lakers then swept the Nets to cap the NBA's first three-peat since Michael Jordan's Bulls.