Top Gun?
Pierce on verge of completing feat no Celtics player – not Bird, Havlicek or Cousy – has ever done
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“Are you serious?” he asked.
Yes, Paul, we are. Go ahead, check an NBA record book. No Celtics player has ever finished the season as the NBA leader in either total points or points per game.
With four games to go and 2061 points under his belt, Pierce has exactly a 100 points more than the NBA’s second-leading point scorer, Tim Duncan. While he acknowledges that anything can happen over the final days of the regular season, he is also recognizes -- and appreciates -- that he is on the verge of doing something not done by any Celtic player. Ever.
“It is definitely great that I am only in my fourth year, and I am already starting to leave my mark on Celtics history,” said Pierce. “That is something that I could not imagine could have happened this early in my career, especially with all the great records that the Celtics already hold.”
Probably the most impressive statistic that lies within his 2061 points is that 534 of them have been scored in the fourth quarter. This is a remarkable stat not only because is it the highest fourth quarter total in the league, but also because this is the time of the game where an opponent is most likely to double and even triple team Pierce. Remember the old cliche: don’t get beat by your opponent’s best player.
”Sometimes you know its coming,” chuckled Pierce, “but you still can’t stop it. In the fourth quarter, you realize that the game is on the line. I think my concentration just goes to another level. It is all that stuff that you think about when you are a kid -- hitting the winning shot or coming through in a pressure situation. I feel like that is when I thrive.”
With only a handful of games remaining, it is impossible for Pierce to lead the league in points per game. Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson, who has missed the Sixers last nine games and could miss the rest of the regular season, appears to have the scoring title wrapped up with 31.4 points per game average. Although he has played in just 60 games, Iverson has already met the league’s minimum point total (1,400) to qualify for the award.
Pierce and Iverson had been jockeying with one another for the past few months for the lead in total points. But Iverson’s injury has all but assured that Pierce would finish as the NBA’s leading point producer.
“That is all part of the season, man,” said Pierce. “You are going to have your ups and downs. You are going to have your bumps and bruises. You have to escape the injury bug. There are a lot of things you have to go through in the course of a season. A lot of guys get hurt and miss games, I just have been fortunate to have played in all of them.”
