The NBA has several iconic moments that fans remember. Shots that players have made, epic plays with time running out, highlight dunks. All these things are well-remembered in the legends surrounding the league, but there is a different sort of moment that earns its place too. Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘Shaqtin A Fool’ segment is an excellent example of this, but fans also love remembering plays where someone got something wrong or messed up.
One such moment that has gone down in NBA lore is that of Paul Pierce. Pierce was playing in one of the biggest games of his career, Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, when he famously had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair.
In itself, this wouldn’t have meant much if Pierce hadn’t returned minutes later to star for the Celtics yet again. And years later, the belief is that he did it so he could go to the bathroom, something he has both confirmed and denied. And now, that moment has come up again after a screenshot of Houston Rockets player Usman Garuba went viral because it looked like he had pooped his pants.
Garuba was playing during the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers for his country, Spain, when fans spotted the discoloration on his pants. And they were ruthless in trolling Garuba as well as Pierce.
“And that’s why I stopped hooping with pudding cups in my pocket.”
“He gon dunk on someone and say they got sh*t on.”
“Not gonna take ten years to find out what happened here that’s for sure.”
“Usman Garuba may have just pulled a Paul Pierce.”
“Bro thought he farted.”
“Cuz ate Taco Bell before the game.”
“That ain’t no Gatorade.”
“This gone haunt him for the rest of his life.”
“This man the next Paul Pierce.”
“Paul Pierce running to get this man a wheelchair.”
“Man, that’s nasty, man.”
“We don’t gotta do him like this, y’all.”
Ultimately, this shouldn’t be that big a deal, it’s hard to tell what exactly happened there as well. But facts don’t matter too much in situations like these, and this is something Garuba will likely be trolled about a fair bit for the rest of his career. Hopefully, he can distinguish himself in other ways like Paul Pierce, and people will eventually forget about it.
