Bill Simmons, Boston sports fan that he is, was amused by
the way the L.A. fans reacted to Paul Pierce, booing him for four quarters, shouting “faker!” at him and even carrying signs like, “Hey, Pierce, this is the Finals. Not the Oscars!” I’m starting to wonder if KneeGate is going to follow him for the rest of his career. Before it does, allow me to make two points in his defense since I have followed him for 10 years:
1. Before the 2000-01 season, Pierce was stabbed 11 times at a Boston nightclub, suffered a collapsed lung and nearly bled to death while staggering to the hospital. Less than two weeks later, he played in Boston’s first exhibition game. If the same thing had happened to Vince Carter, he would still be on the injured list seven years later.
2. During the 2002-03 season, Pierce got slammed face-first to the floor by Amare Stoudemire, breaking his two front teeth. Thirty minutes later, he was back playing with a mouthpiece. The following day, he underwent emergency dental surgery for seven hours. The day after that, he played against Portland with a mouthpiece and ended up hitting the game-winner.
In my opinion, he’s not only one of the toughest Celtics ever, he’s one of the toughest Boston athletes ever. Not counting Tankapalooza 2007 (when the team shelved Pierce with a knee injury for half the season even when he probably could have played), Pierce missed just 21 games in nine seasons and played through a variety of injuries and ailments for mostly horrendous teams. So for anyone to insinuate that he is either (A) weak or (B) someone who would milk an injury, is just insane. On top of that, for the Lakers’ fans to have the gall to question any other NBA star’s character is three times as insane. In retrospect, Pierce’s only mistake was not diffusing the Lakers fans before Game 3 by settling with his right knee out of court and buying it a $4 million diamond ring.
[From ESPN Page 2 – Simmons: You want answers? I think you’re entitled]
Before the playoffs had started, I predicted a Lakers-Celtics Finals (even as a Bulls/Spurs fan), and speculated if this could be a Lakers team I could root for, a first since the Showtime Lakers of the 80s. Ummm, no. Go Celtics!
By this stage of a playoff matchup in any sport, often one’s favorite team is out of the running, and to make the game(s) more interesting, one team gets selected as the team to root for, based on a myriad of minor factors, and not necessarily logic. I’ve never been a Celtic fan previously, and even though I don’t think much of Doc Rivers as a coach, enough of the Celtics have outsized personalities (KG, Pierce, Eddie House, Ray Allen, Poe, even Scott Pollard in a suit) that I am hoping for a Boston championship by Game 6. We’ll see.
Oh, and the rest of Bill Simmons article about Game 3 (and previous) is worth reading, I chuckled a few times, and so can you…
