After his debut in the NBA, Pierce's ability to score, rebound, and a healthy dose of late-game heroics led to his emergence as a top player in the Eastern Conference. Along with forward
Antoine Walker, Pierce led the Celtics to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals. In the historic Game 3 of that series, he led the Celtics to the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in NBA playoff history. Pierce scored 19 of his 28 point total during the fourth quarter, and the Celtics recovered from a 21 point 4th quarter deficit to defeat the
New Jersey Nets http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/2002/playoffs/news/2002/05/25/nets_celtics_ap/.
Pierce has averaged 23.6 points per game over his 9-year NBA career and is a 5-time NBA All-Star. On
February 9, 2006, for the fifth time in his career, Pierce was selected to play in the
2006 NBA All-Star Game in
Houston, Texas as a reserve for the
Eastern Conference.
Trade rumors involving Paul Pierce have swirled ever since
Danny Ainge returned as the Executive Director of Basketball Operations in May of 2003. Ainge laid most of these rumors to rest in the 2006 off-season by signing Paul Pierce to a 3 year, $59 million contract extension.
http://celtics.bostonherald.com/celtics/view.bg?articleid=148137
Pierce has often played his best games against the best individual competition, such as
LeBron James, Tracy McGrady, and
Kobe Bryant. For instance, Pierce scored a career high 50 points in a loss against the
Cleveland Cavaliers on
February 15, 2006. After the game, James stated that he feels that Pierce is the top at the position in the NBA.
http://www.nba.com/games/20060215/CLEBOS/recap.html
In the 2005-2006 NBA season, Pierce had the highest points-per-shot average among the top 30 scorers in the league, indicating that he is an efficient and consistent player. On
March 8, 2006 Paul Pierce extended his franchise-record streak of 30-point games at 8. His scoring streak was anything but a one-man showboating effort. On
March 7, he scored 10 points in
overtime to beat the
Washington Wizards, and the next night the Celtics eked out a victory against
Philadelphia on the strength of two late-game improbable shots by Pierce, one a three pointer, the other an off-balance "
buzzer beater" for the win. He scored at least 30 points for the 13th time in 14 games (between
February 4 and
March 12), the best such stretch in Celtics history. He has six career
triple-doubles, the most recent on
March 8, 2006.
He followed up this stellar season with an injury riddled 06-07 campaign that saw him miss the first significant stretch of games in his career, due to a stress reaction in his foot. In spite of this injury, he still managed to put up his usual stellar numbers in the 47 games he saw action in. Prior to the 2007-2008 season he has expressed great excitement at the Celtics acquisitions of fellow All-Stars
Ray Allen and
Kevin Garnett, and at the chance to contend for a championship. He has reportedly been training hard this offseason and to have reduced his weight to his college mark of 230 lbs.
Pierce, who has been with the Celtics for 9 years, is tied with
Zydrunas Ilgauskas of the
Cleveland Cavaliers and
Dirk Nowitzki of the
Dallas Mavericks for fourth place among active players who have played their entire
NBA career for one team. Pierce became the first Celtics player since
Larry Bird to reach 2,000 points in a single season.
rss feed