Watching two former legends sit down after years, reminiscing about their old days in the NBA together can often be extremely heartwarming for fans. Fortunately, watching Paul Pierce and Tony Allen recently sat down to discuss their old Boston. During their time together the two had a hilarious back-and-forth about how Allen allegedly tried to ‘duck’ ‘The Truth’ in their first meeting after his trade the former defensive specialist’s trade away from the Celtics.
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Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce had his former teammate Tony Allen as a guest on his podcast, The Truth Lounge. While on the show, Allen revealed how he wanted that challenge of guarding Pierce after he left Boston. He claimed that Pierce went soft once he left the Celtics, which led to Paul hilariously burying Allen with his comeback.
“So, TA [Tony Allen] go to Memphis, right?.. His first game. So, they played during the week, Memphis, he in the starting lineup. You know what happened? He get to Boston, he out sick. He out sick that day. Oh, what a coincidence TA. Look, so I run by the bench, ‘Oh, you played last night, you sick today huh?’ He supposed to guard me. He been healthy all year…He played just two night ago. He ain’t get hurt or nothing. He got flu like symptoms. He got P-Itis. He got that P-Itis. He knew I was about to go at his a**.
Was Tony Allen ducking Paul Pierce in his return to Boston?
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Tony Allen might’ve been considering his words and actions while Paul Pierce was exposing him on the podcast and all TA could do was cover his face and laugh in a shallow pool of embarrassment. Though the interaction between the two wasn’t hostile, the way Pierce and the co-host were laughing at Allen, it sure wasn’t. To save face, Tony Allen went deep in his bag and brought out the Michael Jordan-Flu game to his aid as his counter-argument.
“Alright, so listen. This is what happened man, I ain’t gone lie. I come to the building and I don’t know if it was one of them. You know how Utah did Mike that day? I don’t know if I came to the Ritz Carlton and they put something in my eggs. I’m not sure. Just, I woke up, stomach ain’t feeling well and I just told coach. I said, ‘Coach, you better off saving me for the next game because I don’t feel good.’”
For the uninitiated, Allen is referring to the period ahead of Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, when Michael Jordan ordered a pizza in the middle of the night, before eating the entire thing all by himself. Unfortunately, there seemed to have been something wrong with the item of food, causing him to play through food poisoning in Game 5, now famously called his ‘Flu Game’. It was labeled this because the media at large were not aware of the potential food poisoning, and only heard that he was exhibiting ‘flu-like symptoms’ before the game, as per NBA.com.
The makers of the pizza are suspected to have tampered with the pizza to this day, and Allen posed that something similar had been done to his food in Boston. While this is a bit unlikely, the Boston fanbase has sometimes been infamous for how intense it can be. So, no matter how unpleasant, the then-Grizzlies man’s theory can’t be completely overlooked by the NBA community.
TA and The Truth compared
Tony Allen and Paul Pierce are two very different players when it comes to how they approach the game. Allen was known for being a pest on the defensive end, poking and stripping balls from guys on the offense, diving on the floor for loose balls, taking charges, and always looking to help his team on defense.
Paul Pierce on the other hand was counted upon to deliver consistent offense for the team on a nightly basis. Pierce was Boston’s leading scorer for years and was a big part of the Celtics’ last championship in ‘08. For this reason, many would expect that Pierce has more head-to-head wins over Allen.
So, when the two are compared, it may come as a surprise that it is Tony Allen who has the edge over The Truth. As per landofbaksetball.com, Allen and Pierce have faced off against one another a total of seven times. In the seven matchups, Allen edges past Pierce with a single-game advantage of 4-3. The website also highlights other stats from their matchups back in the day. Fortunately for TA, none will be making Tony Allen hilariously hide his face in embarrassment.
