Standing pretty old

Chapter 259 The Story of Truth
"Give me the ball!" This was Pierce's last words before he walked out of the locker room. No one raised any objections, including Garnett and Rondo who had just made a fuss.

The second half of the game started quickly, and the lunar eclipse, who performed well in the second quarter, was the first to walk on the field.

From time to time, he jumped and waved on the court, and he seemed very much looking forward to the third quarter of the game.

In contrast, his opponent, Paul Pierce, looked calm, as if trailing by 12 points in the first half was nothing at all.

The Celtics had possession of the ball, and Rondo had possession of the ball across half court, and immediately sent the ball to Pierce.

Pierce singled out the eclipse facing the basket, a tentative step, and then an emergency stop jumper after an accelerated breakthrough. Pierce contributed the first point for the Celtics in the second half.

Nobody on the Eagles noticed yet, Pierce's eyes changed.

Jon Jonson missed an outside shot, and Garnett grabbed the rebound with the help of Perkins' block.

Pierce received the ball and pushed it directly across the half court, playing back singles with a lunar eclipse.

One step, two steps, a sudden half-turn, followed by a shooting feint, after leaning up, he immediately shot the ball, hit the ball, and added a penalty!

Pierce stood in front of the free throw line, and after two dribbles, he made a steady penalty and added a penalty.

Pierce scored 5 points in a row, pulling the gap between the two teams to within 10 points.

The Celtics are on the move!
Ruan Erniu held the ball inside and made a mistake.

The basketball was knocked out by Rondo, who suddenly double-teamed, and Garnett quickly passed the ball to the frontcourt after receiving the ball.

Ray Allen made a three-pointer and scored!
The difference between the two teams was only 4 points, and the Celtics played a wave of 8:0 attacks.

The Eagles requested a timeout, and Woodson was very dissatisfied with the status quo on the court. The Eagles' defensive strength was declining, and the Celtics felt hot.

At the end of the timeout, Mike Bibby stepped forward, making 3 points and making fouls one after another, finally stabilizing the situation.

However, Paul Pierce's performance was just getting underway.

The lunar eclipse who is defending Pierce frontally should be the one who has the most say. Pierce, who made a triple-threat posture from outside the 3-point line, made his defense very difficult.

Pierce moved, a swift first step, and the eclipse was out of place.

Immediately after turning around and pulling the ball, the lunar eclipse has been pulled away by 2 steps.

Pierce calmly leaned back and pulled up. Although Eclipse tried his best to rush forward, he still couldn't reach the ball in Pierce's hand.

The basketball flew to the hoop with a strong spin.

"brush!"

In the ball!

Pierce clenched his right hand and turned back to defend. His performance in the third quarter was far from over.

……

That night in 1998, at the draft, Pierce shook his head while putting on a Celtics hat.

Later, PP described the feeling at that time like this: "It's like falling into an ice cellar!"

A native of California, he played in Los Angeles as a teenager.To be precise, the holy land of PP is Inglewood (Inglewood) in Los Angeles, which is the paradise of Hollywood paradise and the place where Pierce's dream began.

Although Pierce was born in Auckland, he grew up near Rogers Park in Inglewood.

"A lot of stars grew up in parks," Pierce said. "It was Rodgers Park, and that's where I really started."

Growing up in Los Angeles, he naturally regarded the Lakers as his home team.But good fortune just tricks people. ?
When Pierce was a kid, he hated then-Boston Celtics guard Danny Ainge.

Every time Ainge put up great numbers against the Los Angeles Lakers, Pierce would curl his lips: "It's just luck."

But in 1998, Angie was the general manager of the Celtics and picked him up in the draft.

PP heard that then-Celtics head coach Rick Pitino's training methods were "like going to hell."

What makes PP even more crazy is that, as the best small forward in the 1998 rookie class, he was also considered the most complete player, and he was not selected until the 10th pick.

"I really didn't want to go to Boston, or even put on a Celtics jersey," Pierce said.

On January 1999, 1, NBA President David Stern announced the end of the lockout. In the 20-98 season, the regular season shrank from 99 games to 82 games. Pierce's career with the Celtics officially began at this moment.

"I told myself, I'm a professional player, I just need to play well wherever I go," Pierce said. "When I put on the green jersey, I'm a Celtics player, and that's not going to change."

And he has more important goals, he said: "Nine teams didn't draft me, and there were nine players ahead of me. I want to prove it all wrong."

What Pierce didn't expect was that the Celtics' attitude towards him was much more important and enthusiastic than he imagined.

Pitino, the head coach of the Celtics at the time, never thought of getting Pierce before the draft. He said: "Paul has not been selected at No. 9. I am ecstatic and my heart is about to jump out. Danny and I both knew how good he was, and we were like, 'Hey, we've found a treasure.'”

The outside world is not optimistic about Pierce's prospects in the Celtics, because they already have two players who can play small forwards: Antoine Walker (Fat Toutuo), who is 203cm tall, can play the 3rd and 4th positions in the frontcourt The swingman of the Celtics in the 97-98 season was the scoring leader of the Celtics; Ron Mercer and Pierce were both 201cm tall and could play the swingman of the forward and guard, and was the No. 97 of the Celtics in the 98-[-] season scorer.

According to the normal guidelines of NBA teams, rookies will come off the bench at the beginning of the season, but Pitino made an alternative decision. From the first game, he let Pierce start and stay at the small forward position he is accustomed to. .

"The Boston Globe" reporter who followed the Celtics was a little surprised, but Pitino's answer left him speechless: "In this team, only Pierce has the strongest fighting spirit."

The 99-00 season was Pierce's first full NBA season.At this time, he was on an equal footing with Walker.

In order to make room for him, Pitino even traded Mercer to give Pierce more shots.

Just this season, Pierce averaged 19.5 points per game. He and Walker formed Boston's "Twin Stars", making opponents hard to defend. They both have the ability to play low singles and can shoot 3-pointers. Boston sees their bright future , And Pierce's fate is also linked with the Celtics.

But in September 2000, fate played a trick with Pierce.

In the early morning of September 9, Pierce, Batty and Batty's buddies went to a bar in Boston. Batty went to the bathroom. When he came out, Pierce was covered in blood and lay down on the ground.

Bar staff who saw it all later revealed that Pierce was trying to accost the two girls when a man came up and said, "Hey, this is my sister." Pierce backed away, saying he didn't do anything but disaster When he arrived, a group of people surrounded him, first smashed him on the head with a champagne bottle, then punched and kicked him, and finally, a few knives stabbed him, and Pierce fell to the ground with a bang.

Batty lifted Pierce's clothes and found that he had been stabbed in the chest. Pierce unnaturally covered the wound with his hand to prevent further bleeding, and he was also stabbed six times in the shoulder.Batty hugged Pierce, put him in the car, and drove frantically to the hospital.Right in the emergency room, Pierce asked articulately, "Am I dying?"

　Three chapters are published in a row today, and I have urgent matters at home in the morning, so I don’t have time to publish the manuscript!I found that no one has read related works, so I will post them directly in the VIP free chapter in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)