Paul Pierce will have his jersey retired by the Celtics on Feb. 11 as Boston hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s a huge night for Pierce, as he joins the list of Celtics’ legends to see their number put into the rafters of the Garden.
Feb. 11 will also be the first time Isaiah Thomas plays in Boston since being traded to the Cavs, as he sat out their first meeting due to restrictions on back-to-backs after returning the game prior from his hip injury. Thomas originally asked the Celtics to delay his planned tribute video for when he actually played against them and Boston obliged, but Pierce wasn’t too keen on the idea.
Since then, it’s been a whole ordeal with Thomas and the Celtics both deciding to give Pierce what he wants, which is the night all to himself (which in some ways is understandable). However, there are people who have called Pierce selfish for the move, or as his ESPN colleague Jalen Rose said to Pierce’s face on Wednesday’s NBA Countdown show, he was being “petty.”
Pierce was not pleased with that comment, as evidenced by his face immediately after Rose said those words to him on live television.
paul pierce telling himself not to get fired in this moment pic.twitter.com/uU5evAfOfW
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) January 18, 2018
That was further evidenced when Pierce tried desperately to clap back at Rose on the broadcast with an 81 joke, referencing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance against Rose as his primary defender, that failed to get a rise out of Jalen.
Pierce: Jalen, you were right. I am petty, and I'm gonna be petty 81 more times too… 👀 https://t.co/YUbidHR9Sv
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 18, 2018
The problem here is, Jalen’s heard every 81-point joke in the world and where Pierce was visibly upset at Rose keeping it real with him, Rose did not offer anything close to the same reaction to Pierce. The worst part was Pierce trying to explain the joke, thinking Jalen didn’t hear it, when in reality Rose simply ignored it and moved on to another point he had.
