Paul Pierce. The Truth. NBA Champion. 2008 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. 10x NBA All-Star. 2009 All-NBA Second Team. 3x All-NBA Third Team. 2010 Three Point Shooting Champ. The Boston Celtics SECOND All-Time leading scorer. His #34 was retired by the Celtics in 2018.
Paul Pierce’s arsenal had always had aspects of the old man game, even dating back to his time in Kansas. It begins, as everything does, with the footwork. Pierce hardly puts a foot wrong offensively. Paul’s pump fakes can pierce any undisciplined defender. He punished punier defenders on the back down. He out-quicked bigger defenders. He had face ups and stepbacks and stepthroughs galore. He had a great ability to read defenses and had comfort creating his shot just about everywhere on the court. He’ll bump and nudge and lean to get the angle he wants and there wasn’t very much anyone could really do. Paul was strong and ran through guys when given the chance. His old man game lulled some into believing he didn’t have just a little bit of bounce. His jumper was sweet - certainly not as sweet as HE thinks it is, but sweet nonetheless.
Something that has always impressed me about Pierce was his durability FOLLOWING a life treating incident. From 2000 to 2006, here are the number of games he played each season: 82-82-79-80-82-79.
Pierce spent the first FIFTEEN (15) years of his career in Boston but then played for the Brooklyn Nets, the Washington Wizards, and the Los Angeles Clippers after that. He would eventually sign a contract with the C’s so he could retire as a Celtic, but he had a few stops in between. This video is largely about what happened in those post-Boston days, but there are a few C’s highlights here and there. The clips here are past Paul Pierce’s prime. The oldest highlights available here are from 2008, when he was 30-31 EXCEPT the ones with the compressed screen - those are from 06.
I’ll be honest with you - I almost didn’t make this video because while “The Truth” is Paul’s nickname, the things he says sometimes as an “analyst” are the furthest things from it. In his mind and on Game of Zones, he'll be the GOAT, but only ever in those places.
The clips are from just about everywhere. Shout out to @FreeDawkins from the Dawk Ins days and @GD's Latest Highlights back before going big time.
Before you ask, yes, it's 9 minutes and 34 SECONDS intentionally. That's the truth.
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