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Paul Pierce says 2008 Celtics could ‘break’ 2024 Celtics for this reason
"We gonna turn it into a bar fight."
Paul Pierce has continued to be one of the top supporters of the Boston Celtics, even after he announced his retirement from basketball in 2017.
The Celtics legend and Basketball Hall of Famer has regularly vouched for Boston during its latest ascension as a title contender, forming close ties with Jayson Tatum and labeling the current star’s Olympic benching as “Celtic hate” over the summer.
Pierce even joined members of Boston’s 2008 title squad on a duck boat during the Celtics’ 2024 championship parade in June.
But the longtime Celtics forward also isn’t going to anoint the 2023-24 Celtics — or this current iteration viewed as championship favorites — as the top team to beat in Boston’s illustrious history.
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During an appearance on the “Dan Le Batard Show” on Monday, Pierce vouched for the 2008 Celtics when Le Batard said that “this [Boston] team is better than yours.”
“I don’t know. We don’t know,” Pierce responded. “It’s damn close. I ain’t gonna lie. This team is really good. Really good. But I will tell you this. I don’t know — we knew how to break teams mentally. So what we lacked in skill versus them — we had with will.”
The Celtics under Joe Mazzulla have become one of the most dominant teams in recent NBA history.
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The 2023-24 C’s set league records with 1.22 points per possession and a 122.2 offensive rating. During regular-season play, Boston outscred teams by an average of 11.34 points per game during regular-season play — the fifth-highest total in NBA history.
Last year’s title squad — which went 64-18 — also ranked third in the NBA in defensive rating (111.6) before posting a sterling 16-3 record during the postseason.
But the 2008 Celtics were no joke, either.
Bolstered by the offseason arrivals of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, the 2007-08 Celtics won 66 games (a 42-win improvement from the previous year).
The Celtics’ new “Big 3” in Pierce, Garnett, and Allen gave Boston several stars capable of taking over a game, while a deep supporting cast featuring talents like Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and James Posey made Boston a stacked squad.
But the 2008 Celtics’ bread and butter rested in their suffocating defense — ranking first in the NBA with a 98.9 defensive rating.
With Garnett anchoring a trash-talking, unrelenting Celtics squad, it would have made for a premier matchup had both of these title teams met on the same parquet floor.
“We gonna turn it into a bar fight,” Pierce said of the 2008 Celtics’ approach. “You know what I’m saying? This ain’t gonna be no finesse, dancing around the ring. This is gonna be body blow, body blow.”
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Of course, having a coach like Mazzulla — who endorses fighting on the court and is no stranger to the mental side of basketball — could negate some of the 2008 Celtics’ hard-nosed approach on the court.
Still, Pierce believes both he and the rest of the ‘08 Celtics would have no issue getting under the skin of this current crew.
“When you start getting guys that foul trouble in the first quarter and then they foul — I mean, … Listen, I’ve been known to break a few wills. Sent some of them from Cleveland to Miami,” Pierce said, clearly referring to LeBron James.
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