Video: Paul Pierce (and Kris Humphries) at player introductions

As expected, the crowd at the TD Garden erupted during player introductions when Paul Pierce's name was announced at today's Boston Celtics-Washington Wizards game. Former Celtic Kris Humphries received some cheers as well, as he was announced right before The Truth.

While it's always emotional for Pierce to return to Boston, this time around it's not as difficult for Paul as his first trip back last season with the Brooklyn Nets.

From TheScore.com:

"I’ve already been through that round," Pierce said Friday, according to Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. "The emotion has already come and gone. I did the tribute. It’s like accepted. You accept that you’re not there anymore. But I always miss it. It’s always going to be a place that I’ll remember. I had a lot of great years there."

Former Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was pretty adamant that Pierce was a "Celtic for Life" and as far as he was concerned, Paul is "just a Celtic playing for the Wizards."

"He is a Celtic for life. Period," said Rivers, now the Los Angeles Clippers coach and president of basketball operations. "Doesn’t matter where he plays. We tried to sign him. He didn’t play for us. He’s still a Celtic. He’ll always be a Celtic. And that’s exactly what he should be.

"He’s a Celtic playing for other teams. That’s exactly the way I look at Paul. I’ll never look at him as a Wizard. That’s just not going to happen. He’s just a Celtic playing for the Wizards, and we all know that."

And in the eyes of most fans, Pierce will always be a Celtic, no matter the uniform he dons.

Video courtesy of ESPN's Chris Forsberg