Time for The Truth
The Truth is Celtics basketball. The Truth is also an entire era, ten grueling years during which a whole generation of Celtics’ fans watched basketball be kept alive in Boston by The Truth. Paul Pierce is a career Celtic, a devoted Captain, and always gives his best effort no matter if times are tough, and no matter if his fans would never deem him equal to his Hall of Fame predecessor, Larry Legend. But The Truth is a fighter and a warrior, and he has been the heart and soul of the most historic franchise in basketball for the last 14 years. The Truth brought the Big Three to the TD Garden, along with the long awaited Banner 17 shortly afterward.
As far as adversity goes, The Truth has been through it all, thick and thin, good times, bad times, and certainly ugly times. The Truth was there for the Antoine-wiggle, for Shrek and Donkey, for Ricky Davis, and everything in between. The Truth has played his heart out in Boston alongside Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, but also alongside Allan Ray and Kevin Pinckney. The Truth is about to pass Larry Bird for the second most points in franchise history tomorrow night, and was just selected the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. The Truth deserves a round of applause.
The sad truth, however, is that Pierce may never be considered vital to his team again. Despite his impressive fourteen year career, all in Boston, rumors started to rapidly fly around shortly into this season about the possibility of Danny Ainge trading away anybody and everybody who fails to perform. Rumors of possible trades gave me a new fear and sobering realization that another team, such as the Lakers, could end up with Pierce. These thoughts had me jolted.
Many hope and believe that The Truth wants to retire a Celtic. However, the Big Three era will undoubtedly come to an end once this season is over, and based on how they play, it will be interesting to see which veterans Ainge decides to move forward with and which to leave behind. But The Truth deserves some credit, and the truth is that he’s the last player on the roster that I would ever want to see on another team. Times have obviously changed with the way star players bounce around from team to team nowadays, but the most historic franchise should set a good example by awarding Pierce for his continuance of excellence, assuming he never becomes detrimental to the Celtics later in his career.The Celtics are on a four game winning streak and have now won 9 of their last 11 games, and it is extremely encouraging to once again see Pierce playing at a high level. He has bounced back from premature criticism and early season offensive struggles after missing the start of the season with a heel injury, and finally appears comfortable enough to be playing like his old self. Pierce has contributed 51 points over the past two games, 20 of which were from the free throw line. He is averaging over 18 points per game, and a career high 5.5 assists per game. The Truth is doing what he can.
The Truth is arguably one of the greatest players of our generation. The Truth is the MVP of the 2008 NBA Finals. The Truth is exactly what Boston needs right now, and someday you will see The Truth in the rafters, among the same Celtics greats he is passing on the franchise leaderboards. The Truth is intensity. The Truth is Celtics basketball.
