In a segment on ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, Celtics legend Paul Pierce set the record straight on the details behind his infamous “wheelchair game” during the 2008 Finals. Contrary to popular belief, Pierce denies that he was having a bathroom emergency and stressed the severity of his ongoing knee pain at the time.
“My adrenaline is flowing, no way I want to miss this game,” said Pierce on the podcast. “If I wasn’t limping, I can do it… yes it was painful but I have a high threshold for pain and I was not faking the injury. So they get the knee brace and I’m like ‘alright I’m cool’ and only a minute or two went off the clock in the game,” said Pierce. “So if I had to go to the bathroom or if I sh*t on myself, you think it only would’ve taken two minutes? And if I did poop my pants, why did I sit in a wheelchair? All these little new-generation social media gurus who photoshopped the stain in my pants on Twitter don’t know what the hell you talking about…”
The whole thing sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud, but Pierce’s potential bowel movements in that game became a real controversy for years and it’s led to a lot of doubt over what really happened that day. Cameras caught Paul exiting the game in such a dramatic fashion, only for him to return a short time later as if nothing happened at all.
All this time, fans assumed that Pierce was just trying to cover up a bathroom emergency but it turns out that it may have been a legitimate injury all along. According to Paul, he was able to push through the pain of a knee injury to be there for his squad in Game 1, where he ended as the hero of the night after two late-game threes that gave Boston the win.
In the end, Pierce and the Celtics got the last laugh in that series and they would go on to win it that year to hang banner number 17. Even so, the legend of the “wheelchair” game followed the Truth throughout his career and it’s likely something he will never truly live down.
The 2008 NBA Finals Was A Classic
The Celtics were at their peak coming into the 2008 postseason. With Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce in their prime, experts were not surprised to see them as one of the last teams standing in the spring. When a matchup against the Lakers was confirmed for the Finals, it sparked heavy interest from fans across the league.
To this day, 2008 was the last time that these age-old rivals met in the playoffs and the series didn’t disappoint as a 6-game thriller that involved some of the biggest superstars in the world.
Unfortunately for Bryant and the Lakers, Pierce, Garnett, and the gritty Boston Celtics proved too much for even him to handle. After the defeat, Bryant called Michael Jordan for advice and he began the process of redemption… but it wouldn’t be until 2010 that he’d have the moment he was waiting for.
As for Pierce, not even winning the Finals could prevent him from becoming a meme in the NBA world that day. No matter how many times he set the record straight on those events, there will always be those who have their own ideas on why he needed such a dramatic exit.
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