On this day in Boston Celtics history, legendary Boston small forward Paul Pierce had one of the best all-around games of his Hall of Fame career as he carried the Celtics to an overtime win against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2001.
Pierce had been selected out of the University of Kansas three years earlier with the 10th overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft after an unexpected slide and was starting to truly come into his own with Boston, exploding onto the national scene with his performance in the tilt with the Clippers, which padded his stats a little with the game going to overtime.
The Inglewood native scored 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and a block in just over 49 minutes of floor time, including the extra period.
It might not have been his most efficient night, hitting just 10 of his 32 field goal attempts, but he made up for it from beyond the arc with 4-of-9 shooting from 3.
The Truth wasn’t too bad from the stripe either, sinking 11 of an impressive 14 trips to the free-throw line in the win, digging out of an 18-point hole built by Los Angeles in the game’s second quarter.
“This is a good win for us. I’m drained after this one. It was a game we definitely needed,” said Pierce after the game via the AP. “That just shows the character of this ballclub.”
“The veterans are really stepping up, and you’ve got to be proud of the way we kept on fighting back. That seems to be the story of this team. It always seems like we’re finding ways to win.”
It is also the date of a triple-double by another legendary Celtic small forward — Larry Bird, who hung one on the San Antonio Spurs in a 120-112 road win in 1984.
Larry Legend’s full stat line for the night was 18 points, 15 boards, and 10 assists with a steal thrown in for good measure.
He shot an efficient 9-of-18 overall — and perhaps most impressively, did not launch even a single 3-pointer.
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