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Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce reflected on Brian Scalabrine’s successful NYC streetball debut
"I knew George was in trouble."
Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are proud of Brian Scalabrine: After former Celtic Brian Scalabrine recently showed up at New York City’s famous West 4th Street basketball court (known as “The Cage”) for a high-profile one-on-one matchup with popular streetball personality George “The Messiah” Papoutsis, two of his former teammates had to credit the ex-NBA player’s commitment to not ducking a challenge.
Papoutsis called out Scalabrine on Instagram, and the now-retired Boston bench player responded, running up an 11-0 score in what proved to be a decisive win. In reaction, both Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce praised their fellow 2008 NBA champion.
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“That was West 4th to its finest right there,” said Garnett in a recent clip from their show, “The Ticket and The Truth.”
“I knew George was going to have some problems though, because Scal is — for people who don’t know Scalabrine, other than [Paul], he loves one-on-one,” Garnett added. “Scal right now, if you called him, would get up, put his stuff on, just to play one-on-one.”
“He want smoke at all times,” Garnett said in reference to Scalabrine’s competitiveness.
Scalabrine and Garnett were Boston teammates from 2007-2010.
The Celtics legend recalled how Scalabrine would try to get individual match-ups against Glen Davis, Kendrick Perkins, and Pierce during their playing careers. He noted that Scalabrine would then “talk sh** to Ray [Allen], and then after the third shot be like, ‘OK, cool, I’m done.'”
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“We [would] play in the summertime, ‘I got Ticket,'” Garnett explained, implying that Scalabrine would try to play defense against him.
“So when I saw that, I knew George was in trouble.”
Ultimately, the duo agreed that the matchup was a positive experience for both, and for basketball fans in general.
“That was some good content,” Pierce acknowledged of the duel between Papoutsis and Scalabrine.
“I thought it was great for basketball, especially outdoor basketball, like blacktop. We don’t even do that no more. We need to bring that back.”
Pierce summarized the dominant win by citing an oft-cited Scalabrine quote.
“You know what he said? He said, ‘I’m closer to LeBron than you are to me.'”
Trivia: Brian Scalabrine was indeed a bench player for the 2007-2008 Celtics, but four other players registered fewer minutes for Boston that season than he did. Can you name all four?
(Answer at the bottom.)
Hint: Two of the players in question were 38 years old at the time (added as in-season veteran roster additions), one was a second-round pick out of USC (like Scalabrine) and one went on to be a contestant on Survivor: Kaôh Rōng (which aired in 2016).
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Scores and schedules:
The Bruins were demolished by the Golden Knights 5-1 on Thursday. Boston will play the Sharks in San Jose on Saturday at 10:30 p.m.
The Celtics face the Jazz tonight in Utah at 9:30 p.m.
The Red Sox play the Pirates in a spring training matchup at 6:05 p.m. this evening.
And starting at 12:15 p.m., the NCAA Tournament continues its opening round with a full slate of both men’s and women’s games. Harvard’s women’s team plays on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against Michigan State.
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- Stefon Diggs reportedly leaves visit with Patriots without a deal
Celtics ownership, present and future: After speaking with Boston Globe reporter Adam Himmelsbach, both Wyc Grousbeck and Bill Chisholm sat down for an interview with NBC Sports Boston.
Panama’s moment: After stunning the U.S. with a stoppage time goal in a 1-0 Nations League win, Panamanian players sprinted over to celebrate with their “idol,” French legend Thierry Henry.
THE MOMENT OF A LIFETIME FOR @FEPAFUT‘s CECILIO WATERMAN ❤️ pic.twitter.com/N87TvqZZhv
— Golazo America (@GolazoAmerica) March 21, 2025
On this day: In 1953, the Celtics completed a sweep of the Syracuse Nationals 111-105 in four overtimes to win the Eastern Division Semifinals 2-0.
Bob Cousy scored 50 points, 30 of which came from the free throw line amid an unbelievable total of 106 combined fouls in the game. As Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan would note decades later, it was a game “both tense and unwatchable,” and may have helped lead to the implementation of the shot clock the following season.
Daily highlight: Myles Colvin, son of former Patriots linebacker Roosevelt Colvin, threw down a memorable put-back dunk during Purdue’s opening-round NCAA Tournament win over High Point.
“COLVIN! HELLO!” pic.twitter.com/ESv5IXUg5Q
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 20, 2025
Trivia answer: Sam Cassell, P.J. Brown, Scot Pollard, Gabe Pruitt
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