There’s bullying, then there’s bullying done by NBA legend Paul Pierce. This was a topic of conversation on the latest edition of KG Certified, where Kevin Garnett recalled a beef that The Truth had with his old teammate, Patrick O’Bryant. If you thought Pierce seemed like a good guy, the stories of his tyrant behavior toward O’Bryant may make you think again.
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“You was a bully. Patrick wanted some smoke with you,” revealed Garnett, who criticized Pierce for starting trouble. “You was doing bogus sh**,” he added before repeatedly calling his friend a “bully” over and over.
Pierce merely laughed off the exchange and claimed that it was all about O’Bryant’s work ethic after he caught him eating breakfast before getting a workout in. But KG wasn’t about to hear P lie anymore.
Garnett then detailed some of the silly things the 10-time All-Star would do to get under the skin of his old teammate. “You’d go by the man, fart in his face, look at him. Say stupid sh**,” revealed KG. Pierce recalled the moment vividly, adding that he and Bryant “swung off” to settle their differences, something Garnett laughed about seconds later.
The Celtics famously started boxing other thanks to Paul Pierce
The “swung off” wasn’t just a simple exchange either, but a legitimate boxing contest. That’s because Pierce suggested that players throw on gloves and duke it out to unleash any animosity that was holding the team back. Tony Allen confirmed during a Q&A many years ago that it was an idea formed by Pierce himself.
“He was like, ‘I’ve got gloves for everybody because I’m tired of everybody bickering,'” stated a laughing Allen. In the same Q&A, Allen admitted that he tried to box Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis, an idea that ended with Allen getting KTFO.
The gloves being put on then became a team tradition from that point. Rajon Rondo pulled back the curtain on this tradition on an old episode of the Run It Back program. Who did Playoff Rondo box? Three-point God Ray Allen, a fight that no one knows the result of since Rondo refused to share the results during the interview.
Paul Pierce once claimed that he belonged in the GOAT conversation because he beat LeBron in the playoffs and defeated Steph Curry in a three-point contest. Honestly, him starting a boxing club should only help his argument.
