Relive the best moments of the Paul Pierce jersey retirement ceremony


Despite surrendering a season-high 121 points in a loss to the Cavaliers, it was a special night in the city of Boston. Anyone who bought an historically-pricey ticket into TD Garden for the night of February 11th knew exactly who they bought the ticket for - not for this Celtics team or their matchup with Cleveland (although, at the time, Isaiah Thomas returning was some added incentive), but rather Paul Pierce and his #34 getting raised to the banners amidst Celtics legends.

The entire ceremony was just awesome to watch. If you missed it and want to check out the full 25-minute video, click right here to get all the feels. Since it was somewhat of a lengthy ceremony, I'll give you some of the highlights.

A lot of familiar faces were in attendance for the game, including some of Pierce's teammates and coaches from the 07-08 Championship squad:



Also, I thought it was very cool how Kyrie went over to congraulate Pierce and say hello to some of the other Celtics family members:



I know I got a little emotional from just watching tributes and highlights (especially regarding banner 17) right before the ceremony started, so I can't even imagine how #34 was feeling minutes before his big moment. Pierce said his hands were shaking in anticipation of being introduced to the crowd one last time (even the NBA Finals didn't seem to give him nerves like that):



Once he emerged from the newly named Paul Pierce's Player Tunnel wearing his slick green plaid blazer into a sea of grateful Celtics fans, teammates, family, friends, and owners, it got REAL:



Among the people that spoke was Pierce's longtime coach (mostly in Boston, partly in L.A.) Doc Rivers, who shared some memories on how special of a player Paul was:



After hearing from Danny Ainge and the man of the hour himself, it was finally time to get #34 up to its rightful new home in the rafters. Paul, accompanied by his adorable family, raised the banner together:



I'm not crying, YOU'RE CRYING! What a moment and what a night for a Celtics great.


Follow Erik Johnson on Twitter: @erikjohnson32

Photo via NBCSports
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