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One of the best modern NBA photographs is this one, which was taken by John Angelillo near the very end of a Celtics-Knicks game on December 15, 2010:
There is a saying, and I’m sure you’re familiar with it because everyone is familiar with it, and it’s actually so clichéd that I’m almost embarrassed to even write it out: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I mention it right now because let’s do that: Let’s do exactly 1, 000 words about this photo, starting now:
Frustrated By Loss, Pierce Vents
To me, it looks like each of the players here is wearing the same kind of shoes. That’s not the case, though. They’re all different. Garnett is wearing a pair called the Anta KG 1 PEs, Paul Pierce is wearing the Nike Air Legacy 2 PEs, Ray Allen is wearing the Air Jordan Icons PEs, and Nate Robinson is wearing the Nike LeBron 8s. That’s information that you’re either super duper interested in knowing (because you love sneakers) or it’s information that you really just don’t care at all about (because you are a normal person).
(Did you know that the secondary sneaker market, which is where collectors buy and sell shoes to each other, has been a billion-dollar business since 2015?)
(Still, someone telling me the name of a bunch of different types of shoes is like when someone tries to talk to me about the parts in a car engine or when my 4-year-old son spends 10 minutes telling me about a rock he found at school that looked like a bug. It’s powerful information, I’m sure, but it’s just that I’m not advanced enough to understand it.)
Paul Pierce Hits Game Winner To Give Wizards 2 1 Series Lead Over Hawks (video)
Pierce is celebrating because he’s just hit what would end up being the game-winner. The setting: The Celtics had the ball with about 12 seconds left in regulation (it was tied 116-116). They decided to run that Paul Pierce Isolation Play that they would always run in those kinds of moments. Rondo inbounded the ball to Pierce, then Pierce and Garnett went through a pick-and-roll motion that got Amar’e Stoudemire onto Pierce. Then Pierce went to work. He went between the legs, did a tiny crossover, then charged toward Amar’e’s left. Amar’e, who’s much bigger than Pierce, did a good job of staying attached to him, but it turned out that that’s exactly what Pierce wanted Amar’e to do. Pierce hit the brakes on Amar’e, Amar’e’s goggles melted off of his face, then Pierce hopped back and pulled up for an easy 14-footer.
Prior to the game, reporters had been asking about whether or not Celtics-Knicks was a rivalry (the Knicks were on an eight-game winning streak at the time, and the Celtics were on a 10-game winning streak and also had the best record in the Eastern Conference). Pierce said no, that it wasn’t a rivalry, and he said so in a way that was very dismissive and almost giggly. (“It’s a rivalry?” he asked, smiling.) Then, after hitting that final jumper, he jogged up the Madison Square Garden court past the Knicks sideline, then past his own bench, then back down around the other side of the court, then back past the Knicks bench again, then finally made his way to the Celtics huddle. He did a real, actual, literal victory lap like he was a human NASCAR, which is exactly the kind of thing someone does when they want you to know that they don’t think very highly of you. I already miss Paul Pierce a lot.
He’s actually not pictured here.* Tough last few moments for him in the game. He missed a 17-footer that could’ve given the Knicks a four-point lead with 1:39 to go, missed a four-footer that could’ve given the Knicks a two-point lead with 13 seconds to go, got scored on by Pierce with 0.4 seconds left, then, following a timeout, he fired up a 3 at the buzzer that went in but was waved off by the referees because he shot it too late.
Celtics Edge Knicks On Late Pierce Jumper
*I’m choosing to talk about Amar’e as a way to ignore Ray Allen, which is what the Celtics have done ever since he left Boston.
He’s the first-best part of the picture. That’s the exact posture and face someone makes when they see someone doing a thing they don’t like except they’re unable to do anything about it, and so all that ends up happening is they just stand there watching everything and thinking, “
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Sheil and Ben discuss who the Eagles should try to sign at each position and what price point they should aim for. Would Saquon Barkley be a good fit on the Eagles?It was the company line during the regular season when Pierce’s shot hit more iron than net. The night he went 2 for 10 in Denver. The night he went 1 for 9 in Philly. The night he went 3 for 13 in Milwaukee. Rivers repeated the mantra over and over: The ball needed to keep swinging Pierce’s way.
Pierce's Buzzer Beater Leads Wizards Past Hawks
He knew what Pierce was playing through. The knee that swelled in the middle of the night after Pierce scored 21 points as a one-man rally against Indiana. The foot he strained in D.C. The thumb he sprained in Los Angeles. The knee he drained after the All-Star game. The shoulder stinger that crept up on him against San Antonio, and again in Game 1 against the Heat.
The Pierce that Rivers needed was the one that pulled the Celtics through games in Cleveland and Detroit and Los Angeles. Rivers would sit Pierce as much as he had to - 10 games - wait as long as he needed for Pierce to work his way back to nights like last night.
But Game 3 was no different from Games 1 or 2. If anything, it was more transparent. To stop Miami, the Celtics had to stop Dwyane Wade.
Steph Get On That Stage Dog
Wade took more shots than he had in either of the first two games. He scored 34 points on the Celtics, but with the score tied at 98 he pulled up from 26 feet and the shot clanged off the rim.
With Dorell Wright trying to stretch his 6-foot-9-inch frame in front of Pierce’s shot, Pierce dribbled, eyeing the right elbow - the point on the floor that had become his sweet spot not by choice, but because of a bone bruise in 2008 that made it painful for him to go left for the stepback he mastered. He pulled up from 21 feet, the clock on zeros.
Swarmed by his teammates, the Celtics had taken a 100-98 victory as well as a historically insurmountable 3-0 lead, using Pierce’s 32 points to wash out Wade’s 34-point night.
Paul Pierce's Buzzer Beater Lifts Wizards Past Hawks 103 101
The only team in professional sports to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series was the 2004 Red Sox.
Giving up a 14-point lead in Game 1, then being abused for 48 minutes in a 29-point Game 2 loss had seemingly broken the Heat. But to come back from an 8-point deficit at the start of the first quarter only to lose on the last shot was crushing.
“Tonight was definitely a tough loss, ” Wright said. “That was definitely a backbreaker right there. But we’ve got to come out and fight and come out swinging on Sunday.”
Pierce, Allen Pick Up Celtics
Wade carried the Heat all night, but had to be carried off the floor before the final play, his left leg cramping after the missed 3-pointer during Miami’s last possession.
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett (16 points, six rebounds) were decoys in motion designed to get Pierce a good look with space to work.
“We put our fate in his hands that last shot, ” said Allen, who followed up his 25-point performance in Game 2 with 25 last night. “He came through for us. It is great to have somebody that can make shots like that at the buzzer.”
Paul Pierce At His Best
Pierce knocked down winners before. His 20-footer in Game 5 of last year’s first-round series with the Bulls sent the Celtics back to Boston up 3-2 in a series they went on to win. He knows his role has changed since Allen and Garnett joined him two seasons ago. His body’s changed as well, not allowing him to heal the way he once could. But he knows the player he’s
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