Lakers Longtime Rival Takes Massive Shot at Franchise Over Total Championships
One of the greatest rivalries in sports doesn't end at retirement.
It's no secret that last season the Boston Celtics broke the 17-championship tie with the Los Angeles Lakers to raise banner No. 18.
Paul Pierce, a Hall of Famer who played 19 years in the NBA, spent 15 of those seasons with the Boston Celtics.
During his NBA tenure, Pierce made two NBA Finals runs. The first of which came in the 2007-08 season with Boston, saw them winning franchise title No. 17, defeating the Lakers. Pierce also took home Finals MVP honors.
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His second run to the Finals came two seasons later and it was no surprise he saw Los Angeles once again. Instead of further increasing the distance of franchise titles between the teams, the Lakers won the latest edition of the historic series and won their 16th championship.
Born in Oakland and attending high school in Inglewood, Pierce now resides in Los Angeles. The California native made recent comments about how he still holds the rivalry close.
"I live it every day," Pierce said. "I have a one-up on them when I go around the town and go to my dinners. That's always fun to just say, 'Hey, we've got more championships than y'all and it don't look like y'all are getting one any time soon,'" Pierce added
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The Lakers played the Celtics for the first time in the 2024-25 season Thursday beating them 117-96 behind a triple-double from the NBA's all-time leading scorer LeBron James.
With another victory against the Golden State Warriors Saturday night, the Lakers are trending upwards with a three-game win streak and winning six of the last ten contests.
In an effort to disprove Pierce's statement that the Lakers don't appear to be close to a championship, nine-time All-Star Anthony Davis has been vocal that the current roster is very close to a title run.
As for Pierce, he finished his career with ten All-Star selections, the lone championship and Finals MVP, and four All-NBA teams. He left the game of basketball with a scoring average of 19.7 points per game and added 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.
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