Paul Pierce had a brutal truth to say about his Boston Celtics while taking a shot at the New York Knicks at the same time.
Pierce played with the Celtics from 1998 to 2013, winning the NBA championship in 2008 while making one last NBA Finals appearance in 2010. Retiring in 2017, he got to enjoy watching Boston return to the throne in 2024.
However, the team's quest for a repeat ended in the second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs. They lost to the Knicks in six games, going down 2-0 after blowing their initial home games despite having big leads.
Pierce came to that admission, knowing that the Celtics wasted their chances in the series. However, he believes the Knicks winning wasn't because of their own doing but rather Boston's mismanagement throughout the series matchup.
"Yeah, I think they blew that series," Pierce told Heavy on Celtics. "Absolutely. They had 20-point leads in the first two games - at home - and they lost them both? Yeah, they blew that series. That had nothing to do with the Knicks' talent and all that.
"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."
Pierce is familiar with being unsuccessful with a title repeat. After winning the title in 2008, he and the Celtics fell to the Orlando Magic in the second round of the 2009 playoffs. They missed Kevin Garnett, who missed most of that campaign and postseason due to a knee injury.
Unfortunately for this version of the Celtics, similar events took place. Star forward Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in Game 4 against the Knicks, which will sideline for at least most of the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
This resulted in Boston significantly retooling in the offseason due to financial limitations to the roster. They traded away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, key pieces in the championship core. The squad will look different next season while Tatum recovers, which prompted the need for them to make changes as soon as they did.
The Celtics will await the start of training camp until the preseason arrives. They face the Memphis Grizzlies on Oct. 8 before taking on three more preseason contests. Their regular season will commence at home when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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