12/21/24
November 05, 2010
Paul Pierce Reaches 20,000 Points: Scoring 12 of his team's 14 points in overtime, Paul Pierce made his 20,000th point during the Boston Celtics' 105-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night. He becomes the 36th NBA player to reach that milestone while scoring all of his points with the same team. Pierce said in the postgame press conference he'd wanted to leave Boston five years ago as the losses piled up. "I was a disgruntled player at the time," he said. "To still be here and to be still talking about this feat, it's an incredible moment for me."
posted by rcade to basketball at 11:03 AM - 2 comments
Pierce has overcome a lot of early immaturity and the frustration of being on mediocre to bad teams to get to this point. When Celtics' ownership and management decided to go "all in" for the 2007-2008 season, it was time for Pierce to live up to what he had always promised. He did not disappoint. It is interesting that point number 20,000 came on a critical free throw with just seconds remaining in regulation. Talk about pressure on the shooter; Pierce made the first, and then despite the emotion generated by the home crowd, made the second just as easily. Perhaps now that he has hit this milestone, he will no longer be one of the more underrated players in the NBA. When he enters the Hall of Fame, the fans won't be saying, "Who's Paul Pierce?".
posted by Howard_T at 03:27 PM on November 05, 2010
Pierce also signed this year for much less than market value to stay for another shot at the chanmpionship with the Celtics.
He's a rare commodity in today's generation of "me me me" athletes who makes much personal sacrifice for the team.