3 thoughts on Celtics retiring Paul Pierce's No. 34 after Cavs game on Feb. 11

One day after Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca confirmed that the Celtics will retire Paul Pierce's number this season, the details have been unveiled. The team announced on Friday afternoon that it will retire Pierce's No. 34 jersey on Sunday February 11 following a matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The afternoon matinee (3:30 P.M, ABC) will be the appetizer for the postgame retirement ceremony, which should make the ticket the hottest one at the TD Garden all season.

Pierce's No. 34 will be the 22nd number in franchise history to be retired and the first number to be retired since Cedric Maxwell's No. 31 in 2003. Pierce, 39, officially retired as a Celtic after signing with the team in July. He ranks among the all-time leaders in franchise history in several categories, including third in games played, second in points scored, third in made field goals, first in 3-pointers made, seventh in rebounds, fifth in assists, first in steals, and fourth in blocks.

Three thoughts on the timing of the retirement ceremony 

1. The Celtics waiting until after football season to have the ceremony is a good move. The Bruins have the day off. The Red Sox won't be into spring training yet. The Patriots' season will be over. Putting the proceedings one week after the Super Bowl ends ensures that the Boston sporting world will have their eyes on Pierce for at least one afternoon/early evening.

2. I've been getting a lot of questions already about why the Celtics are having the ceremony after the game, but I speculated they would be doing that on Thursday. If you think about it, it makes sense to do it postgame for a variety of reasons. Doing it before the game would mean the Garden is not filled to capacity, since it's tough enough for fans to get to the Garden on time for the opening tip. Doing it during halftime really limits the length of time you can allow for speeches, and a long ceremony could also disrupt the flow of the game at hand. By doing it afterward, both of those problems are solved. Everyone is in the building already and there are no time constraints to worry about. The Spurs did a postgame ceremony for Tim Duncan when retiring his No. 21 last season and it was awesome (see below). It allowed for long speeches from past and present players, coaches, etc. All of that wouldn't be possible if the ceremony happened during or before a game. The Celtics made the right call here.



3. Having the ceremony after hosting LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game is an interesting wrinkle. It obviously works out from a timing standpoint (the Celtics needed an afternoon game if they wanted to do it after the game), but I wonder whether LeBron and company will stick around for the proceedings. For the record, the Cavs play the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road two nights later, so they won't be in a big rush to get out of town.