Paul Pierce claims his most memorable moment during the Lakers-Celtics rivalry was Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals.
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Paul Pierce is one of the most disrespected superstars in NBA history and it stems from the fact that his career as an analyst didn’t pan out so well. Fans used his subpar takes on current players like Dwyane Wade and LeBron James as an avenue to discredit his on-court excellence with the Boston Celtics.
People who watched ‘The Truth’ light up Staples Center and Madison Square Garden in his prime know exactly what he was all about. After all, you would have to be a special type of player for Shaquille O’Neal to bestow a nickname like ‘The Truth’ upon you.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics rivalry had died down for nearly 2 decades following the retirement of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. However, with Paul Pierce boasting a super-team of his own on the Celts and Kobe Bryant receiving the necessary pieces he needed to contend without Shaq, the rivalry was starting to brew once again.
Paul Pierce on his favorite memory from the Lakers and Celtics rivalry.
Paul Pierce recently appeared on the ‘What’s Burnin’ podcast alongside Ariel Helwani to discuss everything Lakers-Celtics, from his playing days to the current state of both those teams. During their discussion, the latter asked the 2008 champ what his favorite memory of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry was.
As expected, Pierce hilariously admitted that blowing out the purple and gold by about 40 points in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals was his favorite memory of that rivalry.
This Game 6 featured a score of 131-92 in favor of the Celts with Pierce surprisingly being the only one of the ‘Big 4’ not scoring 20+ points. He notched a respectable 17 points, led the team in assists with 10, and grabbed 3 rebounds. Following the 6-game series, he won Finals MVP.
He would also go on to reveal that his favorite memory from the Lakers-Celts rivalry that didn’t involve him was Magic Johnson’s baby sky hook in Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals.
