Entering the 2024-2025 NBA Season, Paul Pierce expected the Boston Celtics to retain the crown, just like many others. A revered legend of the franchise, Pierce has always supported the team and its star players.
However, in May, the Celtics crumbled against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals in six games.
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During his 19-year-long NBA career, Pierce had witnessed teams implode the same way they did, but the sting was different when his beloved franchise could not avoid defeat.
For him, it was a destruction of their own making.
“Yeah, I think they blew that series,” he told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com.
Dropping Games 1 and 2 was costly for Boston
The Celtics were coming off a huge high after eliminating the inexperienced Orlando Magic, led by Paolo Banchero. It was no secret that the Tom Thibodeau-led Knicks would pose a test to the then-defending champions, but no one expected the series to go down the way it did.
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During the third quarter of Game 1, Boston seemingly had control of the game at home, leading by as much as 20 points with 5:45 left on the clock. But then New York found its rhythm as OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson led the charge, eventually cutting their deficit to nine, 84-75, heading into the payoff period.
The Knicks’ late surge was all they needed to bring the fight to the Celtics in the fourth and overtime and secure the hard-fought victory (108-105). Boston would then repeat the mistakes of yesterday as New York once again crawled its way back from a 20-point hole in Game 2 and took a 2-0 series lead.
Despite diminishing the Knicks’ huge victory, Pierce thinks that losing the first two games at the TD Garden cost the Celtics a shot at gaining early momentum. It did not help when Tatum went down with a right Achilles tendon injury in Game 4. In the end, they were dethroned in heartbreaking fashion.
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“They had 20-point leads in the first two games — at home — and they lost them both? Yeah, they blew that series,” he said. “That had nothing to do with the Knicks’ talent and all that.”
Lived and died by the three
In recent NBA seasons, shooting from deep has been an indispensable weapon to the Joe Mazulla-helmed Celtics’ arsenal, maximizing the shooting touch of Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and even big man Al Horford.
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As a team, they led the league in 3-point attempts and makes per game at 48.2 and 17.8, respectively, on 36.8 percent efficiency.
Boston shot 35 percent from 3-point land during the second round, a slight downtick from their regular-season average.
However, Pierce said the team’s continued reliance on the three and lack of aggressiveness spelled the difference between the two teams. But then again, as the Boston legend stressed, firing from downtown has always been the Celtics’ identity.
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“But a lot of that goes on the way they play, too. Because they’ve been a team over the last few years that’s given up big leads because they settle for the 3. You know, you live by it, you die by it. But when you win a championship, what you gonna say? What you gonna say, tell them to play something different, take it in more when this is how they won? That’s who they are,” he said.
Now, Tatum is well into his road to recovery. Brown and the pack have been gearing up during the off-season. Although they will do it without Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday — two crucial pieces of the championship team–Boston will be hellbent on redeeming themselves this upcoming NBA season and reclaiming the title.
And The Truth surely will be backing them all the way.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.