Pierce: ‘I honestly believe we’re the best team’

By Gary Dzen

May 17, 2009

1 minute to read

Periods of reflection often accompany major life events. For Paul Pierce, whose career is based on the bounce of a ball, the end of an NBA season definitely qualifies.

“I think we learned a lot about ourselves as a unit,” Pierce said following tonight’s 101-82 loss to the Orlando Magic. “Especially with all the injuries, with Kevin [Garnett] going down, and Leon [Powe]. Of course you would like to see what kind of run we would have made as a healthy group. But unfortunately that’s the way the NBA goes. You have injuries each and every year. It’s unfortunate we had very key injuries.

“We still felt like this was a team that could have went to a championship and still won regardless of who we had out there.”

Could the Celtics have won the championship with a healthy Kevin Garnett?

“I think it’s only natural, especially after a loss, to ponder about the season and the playoffs,” said Pierce. “That’s something that a lot of people around the world think about, especially with the way we fought without him…unfortunately we didn’t have the big fella for this run. The main thing right now is to get healthy, keep the core together, bring him back next year, and see what happens. Hopefully we can stay healthy next year in the playoffs.”

He had already answered the question, but Pierce continued.

“I honestly believe that we are the best team in the NBA still when we have a healthy group of guys. I remember before the season, people asked me if they thought we were going to repeat, and I said we had a great chance to repeat, but only if we’re healthy. And unfortunately that’s all about the NBA. Injuries are what happens. It sucks. But hopefully next year we’ll still be out there like we’re the team to beat.”