After star forward Julius Randle suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in January, many, including Paul Pierce, felt the New York Knicks’ season would crumble. However, guard Jalen Brunson’s exceptional form and forward OG Anunoby’s arrival from the Toronto Raptors secured New York’s competitive edge in the East. But still, by the end of February, the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Indiana Pacers’ brilliant form prompted many to doubt the Knicks’ chances in the first round of the playoffs.
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New York’s resilience should’ve been enough for analysts to bet on them to give all three teams a run for their money. But Pierce had a vehemently contrary view.
On the February 27th episode of the Truth Lounge podcast, the Hall of Famer ruled out the possibility of New York beating any of those three teams in the first round. To display his confidence in his prediction, Pierce even made a promise he’d go on to regret. After going through the Eastern Conference standings, the former Celtics star said,
“I’m going to say it right now, Knicks will not make it out of the first round. Knicks will not make it out of the first round and I’m standing on that…If the Knicks make it out of the first round, I will wear a Knicks jersey, a Brunson jersey, for a week.”
Pierce’s prediction failed spectacularly. The Knicks upstaged the 76ers 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs, prompting the franchise’s fans to demand that the Boston Celtics icon live up to his promise.
To his credit, Pierce finally held up his end of the bargain and showed up on the latest episode of the KG Certified podcast rocking a Brunson Knicks jersey.
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As a Boston Celtics legend, Pierce wasn’t pleased at all about wearing the jersey. He made his disdain clear by quoting a line from the movie ‘Scarface,’ where actor Al Pacino’s character Tony Montana says, “The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again.”
The Celtics icon made it clear that in the future if he guarantees a result, he won’t attach any embarrassing bets to it.
Paul Pierce is not concerned about the Celtics’ shocking loss
It’s been a tough few days for Pierce, who was forced to sport a Jalen Brunson jersey on camera and see his beloved Celtics lose home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. While the defeat was slightly concerning, the Hall of Famer isn’t ringing alarm bells yet.
On Thursday’s episode of Undisputed, he lauded the Cavaliers’ incredible performance and added,
“[The Celtics] have been spoiling us…They’re used to beating teams by an average of 20 points a game, and they did it again in Game 1. This is what’s becoming an expectation of them… But is Derrick White gonna shoot the way he shot [in Game 2]? No…Thankfully they are great on the road… And I believe they’ll bounce back [in Game 3].”
“They gave us a stinker. Between Tatum and Brown, one of them has to be great every night.”@PaulPierce34 on the Celtics dropping Game 2 at home to Cavs pic.twitter.com/wdjCzCqdPK
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) May 10, 2024
Pierce also noted that the Heat beat the Celtics in Boston in the first round before getting ripped apart in Games 3, 4, and 5. So this series might go the same way, per Pierce. But considering what happened with his Knicks prediction, he ideally shouldn’t get too ahead of himself.
