Take some time to reminisce about Game 7 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Where were you on Sunday, May 18, 2008? That was the day Paul Pierce delivered one of the best playoff performances in the storied history of the Boston Celtics franchise. That was the day Pierce went from an all-time Celtics great, to a Celtics legend. That was the day Pierce saved Boston’s season.
After the Celtics acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in the summer of 2007, the East was projected as a two-team race. Everybody had the Celtics and Detroit Pistons penciled in for the Eastern Conference Finals. Expectations were particularly high for Boston after they cruised through the regular season with a 66-16 record and earned the number one overall seed.
Yet there Boston was on this Sunday in May, playing in their 14th game of the postseason. They needed seven games to dispatch an Atlanta Hawks team that finished eight games under .500, and then they were in another game seven, this time against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I remember exactly where I was that afternoon, well maybe not exactly. I was somewhere in the LOGE seating at the TD Garden alongside my brother. Little did we know that we were about to witness greatness. The atmosphere was incredible. Nobody sat down the entire game.
It was a mixture of excitement, nervousness and tension building before tip-off.
Including the first six games of the series, the Celtics had met the Cavaliers 10 times throughout the course of the season. Each team had won five, and the home team won all 10 times — a good sign for the Celtics. Boston was perfect at home in the postseason, and winless on the road; but everybody knows that anything can happen in a game seven.
The Celtics won the tip and Pierce scored the first two points of the game, he’d also end up scoring the last two. He took four of Boston’s first five shots, making two. Pierce led Boston through a sluggish first quarter scoring nine of the team’s 18 points. He was just getting started.
Pierce exploded for 17 points in second quarter, helping Boston push its lead to double digits. He burned the Cavaliers from all over the floor; scoring from behind the arc, in the paint, at the free throw line and more. It was vintage Pierce. At halftime, he had more than half of Boston’s points and helped stake the Celtics to a 10-point lead, despite a 22-point first half from James.
The Cavaliers stormed out of halftime and cut the lead to three. After a Celtics timeout, Pierce calmly buried a three. A few possessions later, James scored, and Pierce answered. James came back with a three, and Pierce answered again. It was great theater.
Pierce scored seven of Boston’s next nine points after that timeout, got the offense back on track, and settled everybody’s nerves. He added two more free throws later in the quarter — giving him nine points for the frame — and Boston held a five point lead heading into the fourth.
A couple of early baskets by Pierce in the fourth quarter helped Boston maintain its lead. His final field goal of the game came around the six minute mark, and gave Boston an 83-77 advantage. However, arguably his biggest contribution came five minutes later, a play that very few likely remember.
Clinging to a 91-88 lead with just about one minute left, both teams prepared for a jumpball that heavily favored the Cavaliers. The 7’3″ Zydrunas Ilgauskas prepared to jump against a 6’8″ James Posey. The outcome seemed inevitable. Ilgauskas tipped the ball in the direction of James, when Pierce intervened. Pierce reached out deflected the ball towards half court, dove to the floor, corralled the ball and quickly called for a timeout.
The Garden crowd, understanding the magnitude of that play, erupted. Now, the Celtics didn’t score on the ensuing possession, but it allowed them to kill 24 precious seconds of clock. Pierce ended up icing the game with his 40th and 41st point of the night at the free throw line, with Boston up three with less than 10 seconds left.
Celtics fans knew Pierce had the ability to put the team on his back, he had done so many times before, but never with the stakes as high as this. Playing alongside two future hall of famers, Pierce could have easily deferred to them, but that’s not the kind of player he is. Pierce is not one to shy away from the big moment.
On a day where the best player in the league exploded for 45 points, Pierce matched almost every last one with 41 of his own. It wasn’t just that he scored 41 points, but he did so when his two fellow All-Stars didn’t have their best stuff offensively. Allen scored just four points. Garnett added 13, but didn’t have his usual stroke. It was also how he did it that was just as impressive.
Pierce shot 13 of 23 from the field, four of six from downtown and 11 of 12 from the free throw line. He scored from all over the floor, and in a variety of ways. He hit a number of timely shots, and a number of them in the face of James and other Cavaliers. For good measure, he chipped in five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
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It will go down as one of the greatest postseason performances in Celtics history. It was the kind of performance that had previously earned Pierce his nickname, “The Truth”, and on that particular Sunday, Cleveland couldn’t handle it.