By Steve Bulpett / Celtics Beat | Thursday, November 4, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Boston Celtics
Paul Pierce couldn’t do it during the game. The Bucks were too close on the Celtics’s heels. There was still business at hand.
But once the overtime came to a close and the C’s had beaten Milwaukee, 105-102, the 33-year-old grown man cried.
He had reached the 20,000 career point mark and gone five beyond. That made him the 36th player in NBA history to do so. More importantly, it made Pierce just the third player to score 20,000 while playing only for the Celtics.
John Havlicek, Larry Bird and Paul Pierce.
A sentimental tear or two was, indeed, appropriate.
“Even when my mom whupped me, I didn’t cry,” Pierce said later, smiling as he held up his right arm to display the proper defensive stance against maternal attack.
With 13.3 seconds left in the game and the Celtics leading by two, Pierce was fouled. It stands as testament to the fans’ depth that, before they were prompted, the noise began to swell and they rose. Pierce needed 23 points coming into the night, and he was sitting on 22.
He looked into the hoop at the west end of the Garden, paused and sent the ball cleanly through the strings. Pierce let his right arm linger a moment on the follow through.
The standing ovation grew even louder after he made the second shot and Milwaukee called a timeout. Pierce nodded as he moved toward midcourt, then the Celtics bench.
“Coming into the game I knew it, but I didn’t want to press it,” he said. “It was going to happen. But I knew I needed 23 I think tonight to get it. I knew once I got to 22, I looked up and it was a great opportunity to go to the line.
“As a player . . . you ask players about certain things, they know. Like when guys are close to a triple-double, they know if they need another rebound, they need another point. Whether they like to admit it, the players know.”
Pierce knew he didn’t want to reach the milestone in a loss, so he hit four more free throws to keep the Bucks at bay.
Then he dropped a few tears into Boston Harbor.
“A little bit,” Pierce said when asked about losing it. “It was a little emotional, man. I mean, a lot of people in here, they’ve seen a lot of that 20,000. You know, not a lot of people in NBA history have accomplished that. Just to make history for the NBA is great.
“Five years ago, I wouldn’t have even dreamed I would be scoring 20,000 points in a Celtics uniform. The team was going in a direction, I was a disgruntled player at the time, and to still be here and still be talking about this feat is an incredible moment for me.”
Pierce said he found it tough to swallow when he hit the mark.
“I was just thinking about all the years I have been here, and you don’t see it to often where a player accomplishes that kind of feat playing with one team,” he said. “It is a great accomplishment, you know, the fans seeing my ups and downs throughout the years and sticking with me. Just to be able to accomplish this type of feat, it means a lot to me. I am not going to even downplay it. It means a lot.”
In his 13th season in Green, the Celtics history of which he’s always been well aware has become even more important. There have been few players here who have enjoyed being part of this fraternity as much as Pierce.
And now . . . John Havlicek, Larry Bird and Paul Pierce. Seven players have scored their 20,000th point while wearing the uniform, but just those three have worn it only.
“You know, you say those names,” Pierce said. “Those are Hall of Fame players, top 50 players. Just to be mentioned in the same sentence with them as far as scoring, it means a lot. These guys are part of history. These are guys you’re going to remember in Celtic lore forever.
“Hopefully I can enshrine my name in that category as I continue to play and continue to do good things for this franchise.”
It’s more than fair to say he already has.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view.bg?articleid=1293944
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