By Jordan Long
Paul Pierce played his last NBA game on April 30th when the Clippers lost to the Utah Jazz in 7 games. On Monday, he decided to retire as a member of the Boston Celtics, signing a contract to make it official. According to Yahoosports.com, Pierce said, “It’s an honor to have this opportunity to once again call myself a Boston Celtics. The organization and city took me in and made me one of their own, and I couldn’t imagine ending my career any other way. I’m a Celtic for life.” This needed to happen.
Pierce made a name for himself in the NBA as a member of the Boston Celtics. He was drafted by the organization 10th overall in the 1998 NBA Draft. He spent 15 of his 19 years in Boston or 78.9% of his NBA career there. Pierce averaged 16.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists his rookie year. The best year for him in a Celtics uniform was the 2005-2006 season. Pierce averaged 26.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game.
During his time in Boston, they made the playoffs 10 times. In those games he scored 18.7 points per game, added 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. The Celtics didn’t go further than the Eastern Conference Finals from 2002 to 2007. Boston knew in order for them to win an NBA title, they needed to add players around Pierce.
In the summer of 2007, the Celtics traded for Kevin Garnet and Ray Allen. This was in hopes of helping this team win the NBA Finals. With the big three of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce they won the NBA Championship in 2008 and beat the L.A. Lakers in 6 games. Pierce was the MVP of that series. They came close to winning another title but were beaten in 7 games in 2010.
Pierce was one of the best players to put on a Celtics’ jersey. He was voted into 10 All-Star games and was the MVP of the NBA Finals while he was in Boston. This was the right decision for him to retire as a member of the Celtics. The next step for Boston is to retire his number to show he was one of the top players to ever wear a Celtics uniform. Hopefully that happens in the next few years.
What do you think of Paul Pierce retiring as a member of the Boston Celtics?
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