Paul Pierce and LeBron James starred in one of the most intense rivalries of the 2000s and 2010s in the NBA. They went at it several times, with the Boston Celtics player dominating the first part of their duel, especially after the C’s assembled that Big 3 that brought the 17th NBA championship in 2008 to Boston.
However, that ended after LeBron James joined the Miami Heat and started dominating the Eastern Conference. They went at it on more occasions, but James was the clear dominator, humbling Pierce more often than not.
Even though many consider this rivalry lopsided, others think it was entertaining, although LeBron was the clear winner. It all began with a crazy and totally unexpected fight during LeBron’s rookie season, and things grew to be this big. Pierce takes pride in this, but recently had a more honest comment about this rivalry.
Paul Pierce Explains How Intense His Rivalry With LeBron James Was
During a recent edition of Showtime’s “Ticket + The Truth,” Pierce talked about his rivalry with LeBron, giving his flowers to the King and admitting that whenever they clashed on the court, they brought the best out of each other. Pierce specifically talked about a huge duel they had in 2005 that ended in double OT.
“Man, I’mma tell you. LeBron always brought out the best in me,” Pierce admitted. “You always got to step up your game versus him, you don’t want him to embarrass you. It was just one of those nights, I remember it was one of the last games before the All-Star break. We were still playing for playoff position, but you know, it’s just LeBron. You know the best brings the best out of you. We’re just going at it, we’re guarding each other, he’s coming down… People think this started in 2008 in the playoffs. Me and him had battles before all of that, but people just didn’t even know about it. People didn’t even know my career high, 50 [was against him].
“We was always talking, it always been like that, and so, he brings out the best in me, I felt like I brought out the best of him, ’cause when you look at some of his games, you’re like, ‘man, that’s against me.’ Some of my games against him.”
It’s pretty clear that Pierce enjoyed facing LeBron on the court, and even though he’s been turned into a meme by fans for his claims against James, we have to admit that he gave LeBron a run for his money, and if it wasn’t for the Miami Heat Big 3, perhaps the Celtics would have made a couple of trips to the Finals after the 2010 series.
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