Celtics legend Paul Pierce’s epic response to Game 7 throwback vs. LeBron James

On Friday, the Boston Celtics’ season came to an end with a blowout loss to the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Celtics were playing without Jayson Tatum, who ruptured his Achilles in Game 4 of the series, but they were essentially down 3-1 by the time Tatum exited the lineup.

The Celtics were hoping that this Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown era would be the franchise’s first real dynasty since the 1980s, as the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett era of the late 2000s never materialized into more than one championship.

Prior to 2024, the last championship that the Celtics had won was in the 2008 season, where they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers. In order to get to that stage, Boston had to go through Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a seven-game duel, of which Sunday was the 17th anniversary.

In that game, Pierce dropped 41 points to help will the Celtics to victory despite James’ 45 points.

On Sunday, Pierce took to his account on X, formerly Twitter, to react to Ballislife.com’s post about the game, sharing a simple shrugging emoji.

James and Pierce had several epic battles over the years, including in the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 playoffs, when Pierce was a member of the Brooklyn Nets. James didn’t get the best of Pierce in the postseason until he was a member of the Miami Heat beginning in 2010-11.

A tough loss for the Celtics