Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  223 responses

Paul Pierce: ‘We Ain’t Comin Back to L.A.’

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

After the Boston Celtics took the first two games on the Orlando Magic’s floor, in the Eastern Conference Finals, Paul Pierce looked into a television camera and told Celtics fans that his team was coming home to close things out. He then claimed that his Twitter account was hacked, when minutes later, a statement appeared on there saying the C’s were going to sweep Orlando.

Last night in Los Angeles, in the closing moments of Boston’s huge Game 2 victory, Pierce was in the mood to make predictions and bold guarantees again (this time, to courtside fans.)

As you’ll see and hear in the video clip below, Paul doesn’t think the NBA Finals will be coming back to Staples Center this season:

Pierce’s guarantees in the Orlando series didn’t exactly come true, but the Celtics did eventually close things out. Laker fans can only hope that Paul will be wrong on both fronts this time around.

(H/T: You Been Blinded)

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  • Bdub

    Who was defending Mj vs Utah? Or was their team defense solid. You could just say he had an off night but thats quite a few nights with poor shooting.
    Note: I did not see the series.

  • Justin

    Wow, I don’t even know where to begin here. There are a lot of ridiculous statements made here. The one that made me laugh maybe the hardest was Bruce Bowen being a better defender than MJ and arguably the best perimiter defender ever. He was the DIRTIEST perimiter defender ever and I would even take Scottie Pippen over Bowen on the defensive end. Yeah, he played D with his feet all right. By sticking them under the jump shooter while they were in the air. Ask Vince Carter about that one. @Jackie Moon, it’s interesting that you show MJ’s subpar shooting games, almost all of which came as a player in his mid 30′s, who hadn’t missed a game in 3 years, and played more minutes at that age than he did during his first 3 titles. Seattle and Utah were also two of the best defensive teams in the league at the time and he did admit after the Seattle series he was playing with a heavy heart with it being around Father’s Day. In the Laker game I think it was the game he had hurt his toe, but didn’t he also hit the game tying shot over Divac to force OT and then take it over from there? OK, who noted that Shaq, Kareem, and Wilt also scored 50% in their careers when comparing field goal percentages to MJ? Whoever that was is an idiot. They are CENTERS. Michael was a guard hitting those percentages! MJ got lit up on the regular is hilarious. Obviously those multiple first team all NBA for defense awards were unjustified. lmao Dominique scored that much before Michael came into his own as a defender, plus they didn’t really guard each other that much. Different positions and all. ‘Nique was the second most prolific scorer of his day so to see a game like that is not surprising at all. I’d find more to counter these dumbass statements but I fear I’d be here all night

  • Ronald

    @Justin: You should really start reading the comments in context before you criticize anyone. No one used any of the above facts to prove MJ wasn’t the best ever. You’ve basically proved that any fact/statistic can be used out of context to prove something ridiculous, which is what commentators were trying to say. i.e MJ’s field goal percentage being lower than Wilt/Shaq/Kareem’s. Because someone said that Kobe cannot be better than Jordan because Kobe let Ray Allen break a finals record despite not being the player marking him. And re: Bruce Bowen, supposedly someone did a chart on the numbers of the opposing players that Bowen defended and they had the biggest %fg discrepancy. But don’t quote me on that, cause I’m not too sure, I just know that BB was 85% accurate from the corner 3.

  • http://dfsjklf.com Jukai

    No way Bowen is better than Jordan defensively. I mean, that’s just a dumb comment.

  • ianny b

    At that rate paul pierce might not be coming back to L.A trully. if he doesn’t show up lakers will clinch in Boston. Such arrogance

  • http://dfsjklf.com Jukai

    I mean, for chrissakes, I want to delve into that insane statement.
    Bruce Bowen was a fantastic iso defender, but he augmented it by being one of the dirtiest defenders as well. Sticking his hips out on screens, tripping dudes that blew past him, grabbing onto shorts and just being a general annoyance. It’s hard for me to PENALIZE Bowen for that, but do recognize that Jordan played nearly on the level of Bowen in terms of man-to-man D by being a far cleaner player. And while being one of the top-5 offensive players of all time.
    Still, if defense was just how you locked down your man, Bowen would be better than Jordan.
    Luckily for my argument, there are more aspects to defense than sticking a hand in someone’s face (and then slipping yer foot under theirs). Jordan would get rebounds well beyond his height. Jordan would see passes before they were thrown and nab them… Jordan would erase easy-layups with chasedown blocks, or obliterate a shot on the weakside. You know all those steals Ron Artest gets with his quick hands? Jordan would do that all the time. Jordan was BETTER at those skills than he was as an iso-defender, and that’s scary to think about. Through Jordan’s career, he averaged 4.7 defensive rebounds, 2.3 steals, and .8 blocks a game. Bowen’s was 2.2/.08/.04. Jordan had two seasons where he had +230/125 steals and blocks… Bruce Bowen’s personal best? 83 and 53.
    Not to mention, Jordan would shout out commands defensively to his entire team. The same thing that Kobe/Lebron/Paul do that they get so much praise for. I’ve never seen Bowen say anything to his team. Unless it’s “sure Pop, I’ll injure him.”
    So if Jordan is close to Bowen in terms of isolation defense, but is a SUPERIOR weakside defender, passing lane defender, and defensive leader… how does that equate to Bowen being a better defender? I don’t put much stock in all-team first defense, but for chrissakes, Jordan won a DPOY award. Bowen never got that. End the debate right there.

  • http://dfsjklf.com Jukai

    And yes, I do think Jordan gets too much credit for being untouchable… but his defense was one of the greatest things about his game. Period. Done deal. End this debate right now.

  • Elias

    I hope that they are not going back to the Staples anymore.

  • http://www.twitter.com/retepadam Peter Nygaard

    You’d think that Paul Pierce would have enough faith in his team to think that they could pull out either Game 4 or Game 5 at home.

    Maybe he’s a Nostradamus though.

  • Yesse

    Oh yes you are.

  • The Philosopher

    @Ronald: I never said that Michael had to knock dudes around. I said someone had to, i.e., Charles Oakley, Cartwright, the 12th man on the bench. And yes, LeBron is The King.

  • The Philosopher

    Jukai, you are on the money.

  • Ronald

    @Phil: Seriously? You said that because Kobe allowed Ray Allen to break a record and MJ would have never allowed that, ergo Kobe can never be as good as Jordan was. Then you said it didn’t matter that Kobe wasn’t marking Ray or the fact that Kobe was sitting on the bench half the time and someone should have knocked Ray Allen down. And yet if it was MJ, Oak or someone else would have knocked him down?! Wait, I thought you were complaining that Kobe’s defense is overrated? Or are you complaining about his coaching/leadership skills? How does that make ANY sense? I mean I agree that Kobe’s defense is overrated, same as LBJ’s but dude, put a decent argument please! Don’t just blame Kobe for someone else not doing their job! Stop relying on blanket statements or condescending perceived facts!

  • Ronald

    I mean, I love a good basketball argument and I am a big Kobe hater (despite the fact that I believe I think Kobe is having the best playoffs I have ever seen from him, both shooting/effort) seeing how I’m a big Spurs fan. But Phil, you’re acting like that obnoxious guy in the bar who just shouts random statements for effect! “Arenas dropped 60 on Kobe! MJ would have eaten Arenas for lunch and dropped 200 on him!” “What! RayRay made 8 threes in a game?! “MJ would have blocked 10 of his shots!” Yes, hands down MJ was a better player in almost any category you can throw at him (Stats. Check. Rings. Check. Impact. Check. Awesome stories you can tell your grand kids. Check. Shoes. Check) But, dude, be fair. Even Jordan had bad games or foul trouble.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/CathedralsRecords?feature=mhw4 Earl

    Um, yes you are, bigmouth. :)

  • The Philosopher

    Hold on Ronald, KOBE CALLS ALL THE SHOTS, PERIOD. And, guys would be WILLING to get kicked out of a game FOR Jordan, as opposed to KOBE. And Ray’s threes aren’t the only reason Kobe isn’t as good as Michael. And Ronald, through your statements, from what I gather, you ENTIRELY know that Kobe isn’t as good as Michael. Period.

  • http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:OzhW3M1GBSKkgM:http://fashionsensei.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/jackie-moon.jpg Jackie Moon

    @Philosopher – “And, guys would be WILLING to get kicked out of a game FOR Jordan, as opposed to KOBE.” Got some documentation for this ?

  • The Philosopher

    @Jackie Moon: During an interview back in the day, Charles Oakley said he would put a hard foul on ANYBODY except Michael Jordan. Check it out.

  • Ronald

    @Phil: Dude, Charles Oakley was and still is Jordan’s brother. Guys still hang out till this day and still does the whole enforcer thing for him

  • http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Xai88DrYsAhqiM:http://a.espncdn.com/media/apphoto/b8ad869b-bb74-4ba0-89b5-857787be7ba6.jpg Jackie Moon

    @Philosopher Sasha said he would DIE for Kobe.

  • The Philosopher

    More guys would die for Michael OR LeBron before Kobe. Fact.

  • The Philosopher

    And Sasha would die just to get some playing time nowadays.

  • bill breedley

    Lame conversation.

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