“I was scared to death of defending Allen Iverson”: Paul Pierce dished on how terrifying it was to go up against ‘The Answer’ in Celtics vs Sixers matchups

Paul Pierce talks about how he was terrified of switching onto Allen Iverson when going up against him and his Philadelphia 76ers. 

Allen Iverson became the shortest player to win NBA MVP in 2001. He led them to a 56-26 record and straight to the NBA Finals to face off against the undefeated Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal at the helm. He would take one game off them by dropping 48 points but would eventually succumb in 5 games. 

AI did lead the Playoffs that year in total points scored with 723 and also in total assists with 134. His regular season statistics were off the charts for someone who was listed at 6’0 but was clearly in the 5s. He averaged 31.1 points per game and led the league in steals per game at 2.5.

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Allen Iverson would actually lead the league in steals per game three seasons in a row from 2001 to 2003. His highest scoring average wasn’t even in his iconic ‘01 campaign as he averaged a whopping 33 points per game in 2005-06 in 43.1 minutes of play per game. 

Paul Pierce on guarding Allen Iverson. 

Allen Iverson was one of the most slippery guards in the pick ‘n’ roll, getting past defenders before they could pivot their lead foot. This is understandable as he didn’t need a screen half the time so when he received one, it makes sense as to how fast he would leave the man switching onto him, in dust. 

Paul Pierce had the unfortunate task of switching onto ‘The Answer’ from time to time and he makes it very clear that he wasn’t up to such a daunting task.

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“I’m not going to lie, I was scared to death because I knew I could play defense and all but I knew I couldn’t slide my feet with Allen Iverson. Every night when you looked up at the SportsCenter highlights, he was crossing somebody, he was putting somebody in the mix.” 

“When I switched on him, I was going to give him that ‘old leg’ defense, I was gonna let him do his move and imma let him go. Hopefully I could send him to the baseline because I was not tryna slide my feet with that guy.”