With no King around, Pierce confirms his place on Celtics' throne
Hate Mail: Let's call it Arrogant Mail
ORLANDO, Fla. -- What you're seeing from Paul Pierce demands an explanation, and I'll give you one. Well, better than that. Pierce will give you one. I'll merely be the messenger, with some amplification. That's me. I'm the megaphone.
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| As Paul Pierce points out, checking Vince Carter is less arduous than taking on LeBron James. (Getty Images) |
And it makes no sense.
Because if you saw Pierce in the Celtics' previous playoff series against Cleveland, you saw a different guy. You saw someone who was over the hill, past his prime. You didn't see a megastar. You saw a middle-aged man playing a kid's game, and not playing it all that well. Pierce averaged 13.5 points and 4.6 rebounds, a fraction of his career numbers (22.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg). He shot 34.5 percent from the floor, 30.8 percent on 3-pointers.
Against Cleveland, he looked old. Against Orlando, he looks young. This requires an explanation, and like I said, Pierce will give you one.
"The biggest thing," Pierce said, "is I don't have to guard LeBron James."
And there it is. Against Cleveland, Pierce was defending the best basketball player in the world, a 6-foot-8, 260-pound bruiser with speed. James made Pierce look old. Against Orlando, it's like Pierce has been immersed into a tub of anti-aging cream -- and in a way, he has. That cream is called Vince Carter. The goo is good for what ails ya, because Carter isn't James. Carter is shorter by two inches, lighter by 40 pounds, softer by 10 rolls of Quilted Northern.
Carter is a supreme athlete, yes, but he isn't a punisher like LeBron James. He dunks on occasion, but by and large he shoots fading 20-footers. He doesn't attack the rim and then force his defender to adjust by making an extra pass. Nope. Carter is a one-dimensional scorer, and in the NBA, one-dimensional scorers are a dime a dozen.
This is why Paul Pierce looks so much better on offense against Orlando than he did against Cleveland. Because he's being matched with Vince Carter, not LeBron James. So says Pierce himself.
"Not taking anything from Vince," Pierce said.
Of course not, Paul. Oh, sorry. Please continue.
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| Eastern Conference finals |
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Game 1 wrapup: Celtics 92, Magic 88 | Doyel Game 2 wrapup: Celtics 95, Magic 92 | Doyel Series matchup: No. 4 Celtics 2, No. 2 Magic 0 |
"Vince is a great challenge, and he's known for having big games," Pierce said. "But [in LeBron James] you are talking about playing the best player in the league -- it's tough physically and mentally. You sit at home before the series, and I'm watching so much LeBron, how to play him defensively, that you forget about your offense. I have the opportunity to be a little more aggressive in this series than I did the last series, since I don't have such a huge defensive responsibility."
In a series like this, when he's matched with a good player but not a great one, Pierce can be the same guy he always was. And he always was a sure-thing Hall of Famer. With 19,899 career points, Pierce will enter the 2010-11 season roughly five games away from reaching 20,000 -- the NBA equivalent to 3,000 hits in baseball. Get to 20,000, and you're in the Hall of Fame. Pierce will get there, and he'll fly past there. At age 32 he probably has another three or four strong seasons in him, which means he could end his career north of 27,000 career points. Only nine players reside there.
The first two games of the Eastern Conference finals have demonstrated, beyond a doubt, that Pierce remains the best player for Boston. Rajon Rondo is coming on strong, and he's possibly the most vital player on Boston given that he plays the point and that the only other point guard on the roster is Nate Robinson. Which means there is no other point guard on the roster. If the Magic could magically remove one player from Boston's roster, that player would be Rondo because there is literally nobody else to play that position.
But the best player on the Celtics is Pierce. I wrote that a week ago, said Pierce was better than Rondo, and Celtics fans went nuts. It's in today's version of Hate Mail. Apparently it's not enough to say that Rondo is coming on strong, that he has improved, that he's no longer a weakness but is now a strength for Boston. No, Boston fans want confirmation that The Big Three have abdicated their position of preeminence, replaced at the top of the food chain by Rondo. And it's a load of crap. Rondo has muscled his way past Kevin Garnett, who is a shell of himself, and past Ray Allen, who is still capable of greatness but whose days of consistent stardom are behind him. But Rondo isn't better than Pierce, because Pierce is -- in some ways -- better than ever.
Stats don't lie, people.
While it's true that Pierce's season averages of 18.3 ppg and 4.4 rpg are well below his best years, when he averaged at least 25 ppg and six rebounds in five different seasons, it's also true that Pierce has never been more efficient. He is having a career year in all three shooting categories, hitting 47.2 percent from the floor, 41.4 percent on 3-pointers and 85.2 percent from the line.
Again, understand what I just wrote: Those are career-best shooting percentages, across the board. And this is Pierce's 12th NBA season. Someone with more time on their hands, and a bigger search engine, needs to see if an NBA player has ever achieved career-best shooting numbers in all three categories in his 12th season. I bet Pierce is among the first.
Whatever the case, I know what I know, and I know this: Paul Pierce is the best player for Boston, and he has been the best player on either team through two games. And the reason for Pierce's rejuvenation from the Cleveland series to now comes down, as usual, to the same specter that floats above the entire 2010 NBA playoffs:
LeBron James.
