Paul Pierce Got Swept By Zach LaVine In NBA's HORSE Competition
BOSTON (CBS) -- Sunday night gave basketball fans a little something to fill the void while the sports world is on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. The league's HORSE competition wasn't particularly great television thanks to some shoddy connections and a very laggy broadcast, but Boston fans got to see Paul Pierce in action once again.
That action did not last long, though. Pierce went up against 25-year-old Bulls guard Zach LaVine, who dominated his quarterfinal matchup against The Truth. LaVine didn't have a letter to his name when he eliminated Pierce.
We'll start with the good for Pierce and Celtics fans. Pierce did his thing from his home in Los Angeles, complete with a half-court in his back yard with a giant Celtics logo in the middle. That was pretty sweet.
"I'm the only person in all of Los Angeles with this on their court. This is special," Pierce said. "All these rich people have Lakers on their court. I'm a Celtic for life."
Pierce's commentary (and trash talk) during his matchup was entertaining, and in the biggest upset of the "tournament," he had the best video feed of the bunch. Unfortunately, that feed didn't do him much good in the competition.
After winning the coin toss, Pierce had first shot against LaVine. But he missed a cross-over, spinning jumper, giving LaVine the upper hand.
The Bulls guard used his athleticism against the 42-year-old. Pierce answered his first layup bid, in which LaVine tapped the left side of the backboard and made a layup with his right hand. But then he failed to answer LaVine's left foot, between-the-leg flip shot, blaming it on the light rain that was falling at the time. Rain or not, it earned Pierce an "H."
After he answered LaVine's right wing bank shot, Pierce missed a right corner three to get to "H-O." LaVine then tapped the backboard with his left hand and made a layup with his right. Pierce tapped the backboard with his left hand, but didn't even bother with a layup attempt to fall behind "H-O-R."
LaVine missed a stepback to give Pierce control of the floor, but he answered Pierce's left-handed hook shot. Pierce missed a left-handed jumper off the block to give control back to LaVine.
The two traded makes and misses, and then LaVine took a commanding lead when he put in an all-net, left-handed layup. Pierce couldn't answer, putting him on the brink of elimination.
LaVine then made one from the dirt on the left side of his court, much to Pierce's surprise. Pierce attempted to answer from the grass, but he hit just rim. That was all for Pierce, as the matchup mercifully came to an end.
"You're lucky I couldn't get control because I had something for you," said Pierce, promising a layup from either a bike or a scooter. Alas, we'll never see that shot.
Though Pierce didn't shoot particularly well, he and LaVine showed off some fun creativity throughout (LaVine more so, obviously). Pierce tipped his cap to LaVine after being eliminated, but also blamed his defeat on the rain.
"He really shocked me with a lot of these shots. And this rain. It never rains in California," Pierce joked. "I don't like to make excuses, but I was going against some tough conditions in addition to Zach's creativity."
LaVine will now face WNBA star Allie Quigley, while retired Detroit Pistons great Chauncey Billups (whose first NBA jersey was a Celtics one until Rick Pitino traded him just eight months after drafting him third overall) will face off against Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley Jr. in Thursday's semifinals.
Unfortunately for Celtics fans hungry for any kind of basketball at the moment, there is no more Pierce in the competition. Guess we'll have to go back to watching replays of Pierce's MVP performance in the 2008 NBA Finals against the Lakers, or any of the other 16 titles the Celtics own in the franchise's history..
