Kevin Garnett’s Area 21 program served as a hosting place for a reunion of the 2008 Boston Celtics on Monday evening and fun was had by all. Among the revelations from the gathering was that Paul Pierce wants to go back to Boston, sign a one-day contract and retire as a Celtic, and there were playful shenanigans throughout the extensive interview that also included Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis and Doc Rivers.
At the outset of the broadcast, word broke that Paul Pierce would like to “settle” the longstanding beef that the quintet has with Ray Allen and, after the internet raged and prodded them to divulge more information, the crew addressed the issue with full force.
A full viewing of the interactions is certainly recommended here but the big-picture takeaway is that the remaining members of the Celtics were hurt when Allen left for “greener pastures” in Miami. It should be noted that they put some respect on the fact that Allen was a member of a title-winning squad with the Heat but, at least according to this discussion, it appears that the future Hall of Fame shooting guard did not exactly keep his former teammates informed when making the decision to jump ship.
In fact, Paul Pierce described it in hilarious fashion, saying, “It almost felt like you married and you come home and the wife and the kids and the clothes and everything is out of the house. You didn’t get a note or nothing. You didn’t get an Instagram or a Tweet or nothing. They just gone … like, man, that’s wrong right there.”
Aside from Pierce’s social media inclusion, easily the most noteworthy action from the panel was the complete shutdown from Rajon Rondo. The still-active point guard famously did not get along with Allen even when things were going well in Boston and it was (very) clear that the other four panelists really wanted him to speak up on the situation. To Rondo’s credit, he seemed to choose the route of “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” and his ejection from the conversation proved the point with haste.
Perkins, Davis, Pierce and Garnett made it clear that they would be open to reconciliation if Allen reached out but, until that happens, this beef just might continue in perpetuity.
