Paul Pierce - Respect
By: Camilo Silva (The Force)
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, the clock is ticking, the crowd is on their feet, and thousands of people are looking at one single man with the rock in his hands. Paul Pierce penetrates left, accelerating with every step he takes, when suddenly he takes a step back, and gets the elbow room he wished for as he takes a 15 foot jump shot. The defender, Bruce Bowen is in amazement by his astonishing move and is on his heels. 3, 2, 1, the ball soars out of Paul’s hands as he flicks it to give it the arc it needs. The buzzer sounds as the ball is in the middle of its flight. Swish, is the sound everybody in the arena hears as the ball hits the bottom of the net. The crowd roars as Paul looks back and just shrug’s his shoulders. He has dropped an astonishing 43 points on the league’s best defense in the Spurs and has single handedly beat them in a 94-93 nail biter.
By now, Paul Pierce is known by anybody that follows the NBA. His explosiveness, motivation and ability to deliver in the clutch has emerged him to be one of the NBA’s best players. Yet he has been left out of that sentence for the last couple of seasons as he has been stuck with the struggling Celtics, but he has never let them affect his game.
Born in October 13, 1977 in Oakland, California, the 6’6 guard grew up playing the sport of basketball, as he loved the game the first time he touched that ball. He would practice his inside and outside moves for countless hours in the gyms of Oakland.
Before he even knew it, those hours finally started paying off as he dominated all 4 years he spent in Inglewood High School being the star of the team and being recruited to one of the best universities in the nation, the Kansas Jayhawks.
There, he quickly made a name for himself being named the Big Eight’s co-Freshman Player of the Year. The following 2 seasons as well made no difference as he played spectacular, snatching the Big 12 conference tournament MVP for 2 consecutive years.
But despite all those achievements, GMs still picked players like Raef Lafrentz, Robert Traylor and Michael Olowokandi over him in the 1998 NBA draft. That season, Paul went out to prove that he should have been the number 1 pick of the draft, generating eye popping numbers, tallying 17 ppg and 7 rpg as a NBA rookie! That proved to be enough as he was named to the All-Rookie first team.
Ever since, Pierce has been a top notch player in the NBA. He has averaged numbers like 26, 7 and 6 but has never gotten the recognition and respect he deserves. Impressively, he has averaged those numbers consistently for his whole career. In addition, he led his Celtics to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, but he still has never been mentioned with the Kobe’s and Lebron’s of the league.
His repertoire of offensive inside and outside moves has helped him to quickly take over a game. You can send double or even triple teams and he will always find a way to find the open teammate or even escape to make the easy lay-up.
He has been one of the NBA’s premier players for years, and has never stopped trying to develop his game. His determination to win and fire in his eyes will always intimidate his defender. His ability to penetrate, as well as to make that step back jumper has made him what he is. But people often forget that he is also one of the better defensive players in the league, and that he can rebound the ball extremely well, for instance, picking up 19 rebounds in a single game this past year.
All in all, he does not have that flashy spin move Dwayne Wade has, he does not have the ability to soar through the air like Vince Carter has, heck he does not have that fade-a-way that Kobe has, but The Truth has always found a way to succeed in the NBA.
