Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – It wasn’t the first time, but Friday was the last time Paul Pierce would match up against Kobe Bryant in a Christmas showdown.
Few players share Pierce’s experience in marquee contests against Bryant. Pierce won his lone title with the Celtics in 2008 against the Lakers. Two years later, Bryant would answer in the Finals against the Celtics in seven games.
After years and years of facing off, the two future Hall of Famers face the realization that their fruitful NBA careers are nearing an end.
“I must truly say it’s an honor just to be able to match up with one of the great players of this generation,” Pierce said. “To see what his influence has been on this game for the youth and the future of basketball, it’s always special.”
Bryant’s already announced this is his last year. Pierce has said it could be the final year for him, as well.
“I don’t know, you wake up every morning and this crazy thing in your head says, ‘Get to practice, work on your game, get out there and compete,’” Pierce said. “Maybe that’s something that’s never going to go away.
“Then you have that other little bug that says maybe it’s time to hang it up. It’s just little voices. You don’t hear these voices until you get older.”
That’s something Bryant knows, now on his farewell tour. The timing of the announcement surprised Pierce, just because he said it’s rare to see a player do that early in a final season.
But he said he thinks it’s great Bryant did it that way, because it gives fans who’ve watched him his whole career the chance to go to a game they might not otherwise to make sure they see Bryant before it’s too late.
“Now, people who watch him will be able to appreciate him more,” Pierce said. “Most people who’d say, ‘Oh, I’m not going to this game,’ now those people are like, ‘This is Kobe’s last game, we’ve got to go check this out.’ It’s pretty special.”
When asked if it’s crossed his mind that this could be his final Christmas game as well, Pierce said that’s been the case for the last three years.
But unlike Bryant, the 38-year-old Pierce hasn’t decided if this is his final run.
“I know I worked hard, pushed hard throughout my career,” Pierce said. “I even surprised myself talking about playing in my 18th year. In my sixth or seventh year, I said maybe a 10- or 12-year career. Here I’m sitting at 18. Hopefully when I walk away from the game, they’ll appreciate everything I’ve been able to do. But that’s for everybody else to judge.”
Bryant came into the league two years before Pierce. Both players now find themselves in the top 16 all-time in scoring, and both players know they need to cherish their time left in the league and their time against each other.
Pierce said he doesn’t have much of a relationship with Bryant off the court, but he respects the passion Bryant has for the game and what he’s done for the game.
Those are traits anyone who’s played against Bryant appreciate in one of the league’s best all-time scorers.
“He’s done so much for this game and he’s had so much success, and I think he’s put time into the game and really respected the game and gone about working at it the right way,” said Blake Griffin. “To play against a guy like that, a guy with that much success and who means this much to the city of Los Angeles, it’s fun to have a game like this.”
The Clippers ended up pulling out the Christmas victory, despite a late Lakers comeback cutting a 28-point lead down to single digits in the fourth quarter.
As fun as Griffin said the game would be, perhaps no one had more fun than Wesley Johnson, who hit two clutch shots late to make sure the Clippers would seal the deal against his former team.
Johnson played two seasons with Bryant, and he said it was great to see as a young player firsthand how much Bryant put into the game.
“I took a lot from that, just seeing how much he prepared as far as just coming into practice, his rehab, how he took that, how he took preparation for scouting reports in games,” Johnson said. “His mental aspect of the game was off the charts. That’s huge that people talk about, but you really don’t know until you’re a part of it and see it.”
Bryant’s currently the leading vote-getter after the first returns of All-Star voting, more than 200,000 votes ahead of the next highest vote getter. Head coach Doc Rivers said he believes Bryant should be on the team in his final season.
“A lot of people disagree with me on that, and that’s fine,” Rivers said. “I have my opinion, and I think Kobe should be on the All-Star team and I don’t care if he’s a starter or if they figure out a 13th spot for him. What he’s done in his career, he should be on the All-Star team, and I don’t see any debate in that.”
Whether or not that happens, Rivers knows this golden age of players – from Bryant and Pierce, to Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan – won’t last much longer as some of the league’s all-time greats get into their late 30s.
“So, I think we should cherish that every time we see them, every time you’re around them,” Rivers said. “I think they deserve every bit of respect that you could give them.”