Paul Pierce speculates LA Lakers hoisting IST banner to gain edge in rivalry with Celtics: "They should have put a plaque"

After the LA Lakers won the NBA In-Season Tournament, they hung a banner among their 17 championship ones, and former star Paul Pierce is among those unhappy with that move.

According to Pierce, the 2008 Finals MVP for the Boston Celtics, the Lakers did it to spite the Celtics, who are their longtime rivals and are also tied with Los Angeles with 17 title banners.

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"They did that to spite the Celtics, bro," Pierce said. "Because we got 17. That counts towards the 17? 17.5?

His friend and former Celtics teammate, Kevin Garnett told him that the In-Season banner wasn't part of the 17 title banners. Pierce then suggested other ways to commemorate the accomplishment.

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"Maybe they shoud have put, like, a plaque," Pierce said. "You know what they should've did? They should have put, like, a big screen TV and put it on that. Just a video image of it."

The Truth seemed like he wasn't updated with how the new tournament works and wondered if Boston would do the same if they win it in the future.

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"I wonder, if Boston win it next year, they gonna put that up?" Pierce said. "Man, just put it in the locker room."

You might also be interested in reading this: "Went from hanging banners to square 1 again" - NBA fans troll LA Lakers for targeting Dejounte Murray amid franchise's post IST slump

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The LA Lakers were reportedly pressured to hang the banner

Crypto.com arena is full of banners from the LA Lakers. They've won titles in almost every decade, and their way of immortalizing their accomplishments is by hanging title banners. What's interesting is that the team has opted not to hang any Western Conference or Pacific Division championship banners.

According to sources, the Lakers have chosen to only hang title banners. That was their initial reason when it came to hanging the in-season banner. Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report reported that the NBA had pressured the organization to hang the in-season banner after it won.

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"I know the league really wanted any team who won the In-Season Tournament, they wanted the team to do something to kind of say that this is a big deal," Haynes said.

The league's opinion about teams hanging the banners won over what the Lakers had planned. Still, it didn't hurt the franchise when they decided to raise the banner as it helped promote the league's new gig.

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