Appreciate The
Truth
Paul Is The
Only Chance The Celtics Have
AP Photo
By Red’s Army Co-Founder
John Karalis
There is a saying about judging a person’s character when things are at their worst. You can tell a lot by how people react at low points in their lives.
Gilbert
Arenas, for example, is a guy who the media has latched onto as the newest NBA
superstar. Gilbert Arenas is also a guy
who has vowed revenge against anyone involved with him being left off Team
Way to go Gilbert.
The NBA is littered with selfish guys like Gilbert Arenas. Going into the game, it was all about him. He was going to score 50, and to hell with what his teammates did. I can call him selfish with all the confidence in the world, because at his lowest point, he didn’t accept any blame. He pointed the finger so fast, it’s a shock he didn’t strain his shoulder.
Wouldn’t it be nice to find an NBA superstar who never promised to score “x” amount of points, and instead focused on wins? Wouldn’t it be great to find a star that would put his body on the line just to get his team a much needed “w.” Wouldn’t it be great to find a star who accepted all of the blame, even when he clearly did everything in his power to help his team win?
That player exists. And he exists in the Celtics locker room.
Paul Pierce missed half the season, and it took exactly one game for him to find his cape and swoop to the Celtics rescue. What he proved against the Timberwolves was that he is not only a role model to kids looking to become basketball players. He’s a role model to NBA players who need to figure out what the game is all about.
Paul is clearly not in shape yet. He looks a little heavy, a little slow, a little more earth-bound than usual. But there he was, diving for loose balls, flying into the lane to draw fouls, and summoning the energy to go on a personal 9-zip 4th quarter run to get back the lead the Celtics squandered away.
If Pierce had asked to sit out, no one would have questioned him. But there he was, taking punishment for his team. If Pierce had stayed in the locker room to nurse a strained hip at half time, we would have completely agreed with the move. But he was out there, drawing fouls and hitting clutch shots. Pierce selflessly played more than he should have because he saw an opportunity to win the game and break a streak that has turned the Celtics into a national laughingstock.
But still, there is a segment of the Celtics fandom that blames Paul for some of the Celtics problems. There’s a portion of Red’s Army that wants to trade Paul Pierce because he can get us some “quality” players in return. But is there any player that can give you what Paul Pierce does?
No, there isn’t.
We all understand that the Celtics season is in a prolonged free-fall. This season is a plane that is going down. But by trading Paul, all you’re doing is throwing the pilot out the door and then going into the cabin to ask if anyone there knows how to fly a plane. The only chance we have is with the guy that we just tossed out the door.
Paul Pierce has had 4 coaches in 8 years… and one of them was Rick Pitino. He’s had 3 different guys running the team and 2 different ownership groups. There isn’t a player out there that would have stuck around for that kind of turmoil, never mind pour his heart and soul into it every chance he gets. Hell, I’ll bet most of you would seriously consider quitting your jobs if you saw that many people changing the way everything worked in such a short amount of time.
Even Paul had a brief period of doubt. But he sucked it up. He dedicated himself to this team, this franchise, and this city. He didn’t miss a single game for 2 years after nearly being stabbed to death. And he didn’t miss more than a few games a season until this year.
And still,
some people are so willing to let him go.
But without Paul, this team couldn’t even win 10% of its games. With Paul, you have a chance to hover around
.500. Paul Pierce isn’t Nomar Garciaparra sulking in the
dugout while Derek Jeter dives head-first into the stands. Paul Pierce begs for chances to get into
games like that. There are players all
over the NBA who are begging off teams that have been bad for a far shorter
period of time than the Celtics. But
Paul is still here, and he’s not saying a word.
All he’s doing is trying to carry the Celtics to a win. Paul Pierce is the only chance this franchise
has at turning this thing around. And
what we saw this week in