In a highly successful career spanning 18 years, Metta World Peace left his mark in the league as one of the best defensive players of all time. In that span, he shared some legendary rivalries with some of the greats of the game. One of his most famous tussles was with the Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce. During a recent appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, the 2010 NBA Champion recalled the time The Truth broke his tooth in what he believes was a dirty play.
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As the primary defender on his team, MWP was often handed the responsibility to stop Pierce from getting buckets. Even though he was always up for the challenge, the 2004 DPOY acknowledged that the Celtics legend was one of the toughest players to guard.
Metta said, “It wasn’t that I didn’t necessary liked him, he was just good… Every time somebody scores on you, for me it was like end of the world.” The 44-year-old implied that he and Pierce were both fierce competitors, which fueled their rivalry.
Another aspect of the game that gave Pierce an edge over Metta was that he was a great trash talker. The two faced each other in 44 games in their careers. In one of those battles, MWP lost a tooth because of an aggressive play from his opponent.
Metta told George and crew, “He [Pierce] actually broke my tooth. He pushed my head on the floor one time and my tooth came out in Boston…He’s a little dirty too.” Despite all the ‘dirty’ plays, Metta said that he really enjoyed that rivalry because it elevated their game.
In addition to that, Metta World Peace has the bragging rights in this rivalry because he has a winning record against Pierce. The 2004 NBA All-Star won 24 of the 44 games that they played against one another.
He has a winning record in the playoffs as well with 9-7. However, the Celtics legend wins if we compare individual stats. Pierce averaged 20.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists against Metta, while the latter only averaged 13.8, 4.9, and 2.5.
It was also a mental warfare between the two, an example of which would be the time when Metta pulled Pierce’s pants down during a game.
Metta World Peace tried to embarrass Paul Pierce on the court
Everything is fair game when two athletes are trying to win the mental warfare on the court. In case of Metta and Pierce, who already had a lot of animosity between them, all lines were blurred.
During one of their battles on the court, the then Lakers star pulled down Pierce’s pants in order to distract him. However, his unusual guarding technique failed miserably when The Truth broke free from his challenge and hit a clean three.
Retirement must’ve softened Metta up because during a conversation on FAIR GAME, he unveiled that he initially didn’t like Pierce. Metta said, “When me and him first started to matchup, I was in Indiana and he was in Boston, I didn’t really liked Paul.”
Before making that statement on the show, Metta acknowledged that Paul is a legend and he even refused to take 100% credit of restricting the Celtics legend on the court on several occasions.
