With a couple months to go before real NBA games begin, we're going to be debuting a new feature, Classic Box Score, here at BSJ to help pass the time. Long-time readers of CelticsHub might be familiar with the premise, but it's exactly what it sounds like: a fun look back at epic games or performances in Celtics history. If you guys like it, we'll make it a weekly feature, so be sure to leave some feedback in the comments (good or bad).
To kick things off, I figured it would be fitting to take a look back at one of Paul Pierce's finest postseason performances in the wake of him retiring as a Celtic last month. Most fans would probably cite Pierce's best playoff game as his 41-point outing in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against LeBron James and the Cavs in 2008. That's a very fair choice given the stakes, but it actually wasn't Pierce's best offensive performance in a postseason game. We have to go all the way back to 2002 for that masterpiece.
The Setup
Boston Celtics (49-33) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (43-39)
Game 5 of Eastern Conference First Round
May 3, 2002
Fleet Center in Boston
The Celtics broke free from the disastrous Rick Pitino era and ended a 10-year playoff drought with this first round series against Allen Iverson and the defending Eastern Conference champions. A pair of up-and-coming forwards (Pierce and Antoine Walker) anchored the scoring for this Jim O'Brien-coached squad that was ahead of its time with the volume of 3-point shots it hoisted up. The Sixers had Iverson in his prime averaging 31 points per game, but they didn't have anyone else who could reliably score around him outside of a couple aging veterans in Derrick Coleman and Dikembe Mutombo.
The back-and-forth series was a tight affair with both teams defending home court before a deciding Game 5 back in Boston (the NBA switched to best-of-seven series in all rounds shortly after this). The Celtics had just mortgaged a pretty big part of their future by dealing first round pick Joe Johnson for a couple of win-now veterans in Rodney Rodgers and Tony Delk, making getting out of the opening round pretty important. The Celtics would come to regret that trade pretty quickly, but it would have been even worse if they lost this Game 5.
The Game
The Celtics jumped all over the Sixers out of the gate with with a 13-3 run, but this game remained close for much of the first three quarters. Pierce put the Celtics on his back immediately though. He piled up 15 points in the first quarter and was up to 29 points by halftime, scoring nearly 50 percent of Boston's first half points as the hosts built a 12-point lead. Pierce cooled off in the third quarter (two points) as the Sixers remained within striking distance, but that changed quickly in the final frame. Pierce and the entire Celtics offense caught fire, going on a 25-5 run midway through the fourth quarter (43-20 spread overall) to turn the game into a 120-87 drubbing.
When all was said and done, Pierce finished with one of the most efficient scoring lines in Celtics postseason history:
46 points
16-of-25 FG
8-of-10 3-pt
6 assists
0 turnovers
To this day, that remains the seventh most points scored by a Celtic in a playoff game in franchise history. Pierce and co. would go out to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they fell to the New Jersey Nets in six games.
The Box Score
The Highlights
Leftover Thoughts
- If you watch the highlights clip, you’ll notice Danny Ainge is on commentary for TNT just one year before he took the Celtics job. He was a good listen back then with John Thompson.
- He didn't get any accolades in this writeup, but this game was also Antoine Walker at his best: 27 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, banking in 3-point shots from the wing, plus laughing it up when Pierce caught fire in the fourth quarter.
- Mark Blount delivered some useful bench minutes in Game 5, setting the stage for him looking like a serviceable center the next couple years. He actually signed with the Nuggets in the summer of 2002 and was traded back to Boston the following season. Eventually, he fooled Ainge into giving him a big deal in 2004 that quickly became an albatross.
- There wasn't a ton of turnover with the Sixers team from their previous Finals run, (a few role guys like George Lynch and Tyrone Hill) but this team just couldn't score at all. No shooters or spacing around Iverson at all. Makes it even more impressive he dragged most of this group to the Finals in 2001.