Paul Pierce follows through on bet to walk 20 miles to work after Celtics’ Game 2 loss to Knicks

“If the Celtics lose Game 2 at home, I promise you I’m walking here tomorrow. I’m walking here! I’m walking here. 15 miles! I’m walking here, in my robe, no shoes on, bare feet if the Celtics lose tonight,” said Pierce. “I’m walking! I’m telling you right now! Nah, I’m taking this serious. Nah, nah, nah. Ain’t no way. In a robe, barefoot. I’ll be up at three.”

“I guarantee this one. Put the house on this game. Put the house on it. Put the house on it. No shot we losing. No chance,” Pierce continued. “You’ve got a better chance at walking out of the studio and seeing a dinosaur than the Celtics losing.”

Boston, the defending champions, earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 61-21 record. They’d advance out of the first round with a 4-1 series win over the Orlando Magic to set up this semifinal against New York.

However, the Celtics, despite sweeping them in the regular season and leading by as much as 20 points in both Game 1 and Game 2, lost both matchups in fully losing their homecourt advantage to the Knicks. New York came back in the fourth quarter and won Game 1 at 108-105 in overtime behind big outings from Jalen Brunson (29 points, five assists), OG Anunoby (29 points), and Karl-Anthony Towns (14 points, 13 rebounds) while Boston also set a league record for three-point misses by going 15-60 (25%). The Knicks then made another fourth-quarter comeback in Game 2 to win at 91-90 after a clutch fourth quarter from Mikal Bridges, including a final stop with a deflection on Jayson Tatum.

Boston had outscored New York at 157-136 through the first three quarters of Game 1 and Game 2. But, in the fourth quarters and one overtime, the Knicks have outscored the Celtics at 63-38. That’s been just enough in time for New York to get out of TD Garden with a 2-0 lead. They’ll now have a chance to take full control of the series, if not win it in a sweep, with Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday inside Madison Square Garden.

As an all-time player for the Celtics, Pierce likely wouldn’t have made any other pick for Game 2. He’s just now having to pay for it with a 20-mile hike to finish between now and when he’s supposed to be on-air again this afternoon at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT on FS1.