Yesterday, we were all Witnesses…..to the return of the The Truth.
Engaging in a playoff scoring duel is the stuff of greatness. I don’t care to go into hyperbole and bring in the names of a certain human highlight film and a white guy from French Lick…but Pierce/LeBron was up there. Even better than that? Scoring 41 points and leading your team to a Game 7 victory.
That’s the stuff of legends.
It has been years since anyone has called Paul Pierce The Truth, and with good reason. It has also been a while since anyone has put Paul Pierce on the upper-tier of NBA players. However it was yesterday, at the age of 30 that Paul Pierce delivered in the biggest way possible. In a matter of 44 minutes, Paul Pierce completely rebuilt his legacy. Pierce went toe-to-toe with the man whom many to believe the best (or second best) player on the planet. And he won. Paul Pierce is officially one of the best players in the NBA. No argument, hands down, he is up there. Maybe not in the upper echelon, but he’s surpassed T-Mac, VC and a host of others and has jumped onto greatness.
Many had been waiting for a game like this from Pierce since the first couple games against Atlanta. It could be said that many have been waiting for a game like this from Pierce his entire career.
Pierce has scored points before. But never on a stage like that. Never has he hit big-time buckets like he had yesterday. Everytime the Cavs seemed to be gaining momentum in that second half, enter Pierce with a bucket. That’s a body blow. Body blow after body blow and he finally delievered the KO punch…even with a little help if you believe in the ghost of Red.
Yesterday was that game. Fitting that after all of the talk of the Big 3, all of the talk about how much KG and Ray would help….that it was the Captain reviving the Truth inside of him to lead the Celtics to victory.
Other notes:
LeBron James was astonishing yesterday. He did everything he possibly could in that first half to will his team to victory and they were still down by 10. It seemed as if he would have to give another super-human effort to even make it close, something that did not seem possible. The fact of the matter is…he did it. He willed his team again and has nothing to be ashamed of.
I blame Mike Brown for not trying to establish anyone else as an offensive option. He pretty much said ‘Hey LeBron win this one’. Ilgauskas was a virtual non-factor, when what the playoffs has taught us is that when he goes off the Cavs are tough to guard.
PJ Brown is the definition of a veteran. Pierce obviously gets the MVP, but Brown has to get something. This is the same guy that was eating Cheerios earlier this year and here he is on the biggest stage getting clutch rebounds and clutch buckets. Kudos to him. Somewhere Sam Cassell was slightly upset because that was his moment. It’s Sam you know he thought about it once.
You know how you kept expecting Paul Pierce to have a big game? And you kind of did the same with Ray Allen? I’m done doing that with Ray Allen. The realization is that he’s….well he is kind of shot. And having to guard Rip is not going to help his knees and ankles at all.
The funny part about this Detroit/Boston series is…I don’t like either of this teams coming back from a deficit. The Pistons are a little better but we all know they are due for an implosion where someone cusses Flip out and then someone stares at each other and we all think they are about to blow up.