The New York Knicks, in a stunning underdog tale, have dispatched the Boston Celtics in 6 games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years. They’ll face off against familiar foes, the Indiana Pacers, and Celtics legend Paul Pierce cannot wait for the matchup.
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No, he’s not motivated by the potential high-octane basketball that’ll be played. Instead, he’s fueled by pure pettiness and hatred for the Knicks. Just minutes after the final buzzer blew on the Celtics’ title defense season, Pierce took to his social media to post a video in which he proceeded to make fun of the Knicks.
He mocked the fans for celebrating a series win in which the Celtics were missing their best player—Jason Tatum, who was sidelined for two games after getting injured in Game 4. He then claimed the Pacers would make light work of their team and told the fans to celebrate while they still could, because Indiana wouldn’t let them reach the Finals.
“You know, whatever, Pacers gonna pop y’all though,” he said, with a glass of some drink in hand. “Y’all know that, right? Y’all know that the Pacers is gonna get y’all. So I don’t even wanna hear all that, y’all feeling good, y’all beat the Celtics. Y’all beat an injured Celtics team… So you know, whatever.”
Paul Pierce after the Knicks eliminated the Celtics from the Playoffs
“Pacers gonna pop y’all. Pacers gonna get y’all… y’all beat an injured Celtics team.” pic.twitter.com/VKsU6ODTBN
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) May 17, 2025
Sure, Pierce’s video did seem a bit salty. But to be fair to him, his team had just been eliminated in the most brutal fashion imaginable.
In what was obviously a must-win game for the Celtics, they were dominated from tip-off, with New York registering a mammoth 119–81 blowout. To make matters worse, the star they had relied on after Tatum’s injury, Jalen Brown, fouled out in the third quarter while the Celtics were trailing by nearly 40.
That said, Pierce’s words could still prove prophetic. The Pacers got the better of the Knicks in last year’s conference semifinals, taking them to seven games before eliminating them at the Garden. Their core remains intact, and they’ve been one of the hottest teams this postseason.
If New York wants to avoid a repeat of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals—where the Pacers also knocked them out—they’ll need to be at their absolute best.
