“I always wanted a little brother because I felt like the little brother had to do everything.”
― Paul Pierce
“You’ve got to put in the work. And you’ve got to play with confidence. You’ve got to believe in yourself.”
― Paul Pierce
“The game isn’t over till the clock says zero.”
― Paul Pierce
“People don’t understand the power of love and family and strength.”
― Paul Pierce
“Understanding history means knowing what motivates you.”
― Paul Pierce
“Injuries are a big factor when you’re trying to go on a championship run.”
― Paul Pierce
“Dislike is what creates rivalries.”
― Paul Pierce
“Life changes when you have a child, when you have your own family. You become more careful about what you do. You’re not going to be out late, going out to clubs, hanging out with your friends. You’re going to be at home, taking care of your daughter, playing with her.”
― Paul Pierce
“If they’re not talking about you, you’re not doing something; you’re not doing anything. So if they’re talking about you, you may be doing something right. And when they talk bad about you, you just use it for motivation.”
― Paul Pierce
“I always say I wish I was in my prime matching up against LeBron. Let’s see how many championships he would have won then.”
― Paul Pierce
“You’ve got to be able to finish out the season on a strong note.”
― Paul Pierce
“Ubuntu is about a community coming together to help one another.”
― Paul Pierce
“My strength comes from my mom. Just seeing what she had to go through to raise us, she wouldn’t make excuses; she wouldn’t put her head down. So I guess I looked at adversity right in the eye and took it on.”
― Paul Pierce
“I want to be there for my daughter – when she falls, to pick her up. When she needs help with homework.”
― Paul Pierce
“I probably visualize myself, the shots I’m going to get in the game, how I’m going to play defense, what we have to do to stop the other team’s best player, what it’s going to take out of me, the whole aspect of the game.”
― Paul Pierce
“That is one of my greatest strengths. I am not afraid to face challenges or any matchup in the league.”
― Paul Pierce
“The rim is looking bigger and bigger every game.”
― Paul Pierce
“I think the most important thing I work on is just my mental approach to every day, my mental approach to the game. How to come in each and every day focused, doing what I want to do, I think that’s just the biggest issue.”
― Paul Pierce
“I majored in criminal justice. I like ‘CSI,’ all that, ’24.’ I watch those shows on A&E, if I watch TV. I don’t really watch TV shows.”
― Paul Pierce
“There’s a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don’t cross that line, but I have a lot of confidence in myself.”
― Paul Pierce
“I just love the pressure, truthfully, man.”
― Paul Pierce
“I love getting up – in the summer, I get up at 5:30, 6 just to go train.”
― Paul Pierce
“What people don’t understand is the summertime is motivation – how willing you’re willing to work for the upcoming season – and I think, as older players, once you see that drive fall off in the summer, then I think it’s time to hang it up.”
― Paul Pierce
“These seasons, as you get older, they just are so long and draining.”
― Paul Pierce
“I think I’ve had an illustrious career.”
― Paul Pierce
“Boston is always going to be a second home for me.”
― Paul Pierce
“I like the Raiders. That’s my favorite team.”
― Paul Pierce
“Once people start making comparisons to a player of the past, they want you to be that player. I try to go out there and create my own image, my own style, my own type of game. Right now I can’t even think of one guy I’ve been compared to.”
― Paul Pierce
“At the beginning of the season, I set my goal to see if I can lead the league in scoring, because I feel I have that kind of ability. A lot of guys say it, but it’s not really in their grasp. I feel that’s really in my grasp.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve always been a late bloomer. My body developed late. From ninth to 10th grade, I grew like 3 inches. Just kind of stretched out. I was like 6-1, grew to 6-4 in 10th grade.”
― Paul Pierce
“I worked at a hospital for a week. And at a golf course when I was in college at Kansas for about a week. The tips weren’t good so I quit.”
― Paul Pierce
“Kids get influenced by other kids.”
― Paul Pierce
“A lot of players know I’ve been around 13 years and this is my second lockout. I got a lot of respect. I know what’s going on both for the league and the union.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m a competitive player, and I love being on the court. If the NBA cancels the season I’m definitely looking at my options and considering going overseas.”
― Paul Pierce
“’A Christmas Story’ is my favorite Christmas movie.”
― Paul Pierce
“A lot of people that I’ve had around me have been my closest friends since junior high, back when we were exchanging each other’s clothes, staying at each other’s houses. That was before I had anything.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m a competitive person. I love the game of basketball. I’m a gym rat.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve never been in a gang. None of my friends have been in a gang. I’ve never rolled around with big entourages.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you win a championship, it is a great feeling, and you really don’t want that feeling to go away.”
― Paul Pierce
“The Celtics don’t celebrate anything but championships.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you give a team life, give a team confidence, anything can happen in a Game 7.”
― Paul Pierce
“You know coaches. Sometimes they ramble.”
― Paul Pierce
“Mostly I play sports games – football and basketball. ‘Inside Drive’ and ‘NFL Fever.’”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve never been on the cover of a game. When people go into the store and see me on the cover of a game, maybe that will entice them to buy it.”
― Paul Pierce
“My favorite quarterback is Donovan McNabb. I think he’s a complete quarterback. I love the way he can scramble and throw on the run. He can do it all. He can control a game.”
― Paul Pierce
“’Pulp Fiction’ is my favorite movie of all time.”
― Paul Pierce
“My brother was a huge Charles Barkley fan – my brother went to Miami. He played power forward, and he always used to tell me stories about Barkley and college. And I watched Barkley growing up. I loved what he brought to the game. His toughness and just his attitude, being as strong he was.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you gotta go through something tough, I’ve always been a guy that just wants to get it out of the way.”
― Paul Pierce
“Just soaking up the history of the Boston Celtics has been the best thing that’s happened to me as a player.”
― Paul Pierce
“In college, I probably lost a total of about 11 games, and then I came to the Celtics and in my first three weeks we went on a nine-game losing streak.”
― Paul Pierce
“I can’t remember last time I had a soda. It tastes like acid to me now.”
― Paul Pierce
“The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people.”
― Paul Pierce
“The NBA is changing so much. It’s not like when I came up, with that old-school mentality that practice really mattered.”
― Paul Pierce
“The ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s genes of competitive fire are dead and gone.”
― Paul Pierce
“It’s just something I’ve always loved to do: talk basketball. It’s easy for me to give my perspective, my analyst approach to it, because even when I played, I would watch film, talk about the game.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m a basketball junkie and a real historian of the game, so for me to get a chance to express it and give my perspective on a national stage, I’m really enjoying it.”
― Paul Pierce
“I knew I wasn’t going to be a scientist; I knew that early. When they started talking about dissecting frogs, I knew I wasn’t going to be a scientist.”
― Paul Pierce
“We used to play ‘Double Dribble’ on Nintendo. Later, in high school, it was more ‘NBA Live’ and ‘John Madden Football.’”
― Paul Pierce
“I listened to Tupac and a lot of Biggie Smalls.”
― Paul Pierce
“I was a typical K-Swiss guy with sweatsuits. I was a ball player, so the ballers, we wore our game shorts to class. We didn’t really have a fashion in high school like other kids.”
― Paul Pierce
“You definitely gotta get more rest as an older player than you did when you were young. You’re young, full of energy. You’re out, up late, watching movies or out hanging out with your friends.”
― Paul Pierce
“You see more friendships in the league. It’s not like in the ’80s when you had enemies, or you couldn’t stand this guy, and there were fights all the time.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve got three beautiful kids that wear me out after I get home from practice. I think that’s a good thing so I’m able to get my rest.”
― Paul Pierce
“I just think it’s really upsetting when you see a community just go out and burn down stores and trash cars.”
― Paul Pierce
“If I had to single one guy out who is the most difficult player to guard in the league, it would have to be Carmelo.”
― Paul Pierce
“Kobe is one of the best scorers in NBA history, but I don’t have as much trouble with him in the post as I do with Carmelo.”
― Paul Pierce
“LeBron is a great post-up player, but if you get him to settle for the jumper on some nights, you might be able to slow him down if his shot is off.”
― Paul Pierce
“The gym was my sanctuary. The place where you could forget about all your worries, your problems, people asking you for money, people asking you to do this, do that.”
― Paul Pierce
“It’s crazy how people just don’t care sometimes about the kids they have.”
― Paul Pierce
“I want to be the dad that my father never was.”
― Paul Pierce
“I respect our greats. I admire them.”
― Paul Pierce
“You can actually get calls by yelling, ‘And one!’ as you release.”
― Paul Pierce
“I think too much of my leadership is done the bad way.”
― Paul Pierce
“Usually, when you win the championship, you party all summer and don’t work out. But when I won, I mean, I had my good times, but I used it as motivation to do it again. When you realize you can accomplish something so great, you want to do it again.”
― Paul Pierce
“Understanding who you are is saying, ‘You’re great; you have tons of confidence, and don’t ever forget that.’ And that helped me, man. Because when things weren’t going right, I thought, ‘You’ve got to remember who you are. Don’t stray from that. Don’t let these things get you down.’”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m an old-school guy. I’m a competitor.”
― Paul Pierce
“I understand when you have great players on losing teams who are tired of losing, struggling in the playoffs every year. You’re the lone star. I’ve been in that position.”
― Paul Pierce
“Every kid who just played basketball knew about the Boston Celtics. They’re one of the few teams who were always on national TV along with the Lakers.”
― Paul Pierce
“I originally was more into baseball and football, but being in Los Angeles, you just couldn’t help but to fall in love with the game of basketball because they had such a winning tradition.”
― Paul Pierce
“You can’t listen to every little thing that’s bad or good said about you. I always used that – whenever I heard it, I used it as fuel to motivate me, man. That’s how I was raised, whenever I came up.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m happy I’m able to leave a legacy behind. I’m happy I was able to win a championship. I have no regrets about nothing.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you come off a losing season – one of the worst seasons in all of basketball – and get guys like Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, two perennial All-Stars, we felt like we had a championship team.”
― Paul Pierce
“Sometimes when general managers get a new job, they clean house and start over and rebuild and get the players they want in there.”
― Paul Pierce
“After 18 NBA years, it’s hard to believe I’ll be playing in each arena for the last time.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m not a guy who goes into the neighborhood, gets beat up by the bully’s gang, and then now I want to join their gang. That’s just not me. I wanna fight – let’s go! I mean, I’m gonna stand up for myself. That’s just the competitive nature of where I come from, the era I grew up in.”
― Paul Pierce
“I love the fact that I get to play against the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 7 on the road.”
― Paul Pierce
“I love the fact that, if I don’t win multiple championships, that I probably won’t be mentioned amongst the other guys in Celtics history who’ve done it before. That type of stuff motivates me.”
― Paul Pierce
“I respect LeBron. People think we have a hate for each other, but I totally respect what he’s done.”
― Paul Pierce
“If I see LeBron walking down the street, it’s not going to be no fistfight. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”
― Paul Pierce
“It’s just something about great players when they play in certain arenas or against other great players. They elevate their play. LeBron is one of those guys. He feels the moment. He understands the moment.”
― Paul Pierce
“A lot of things change in the playoffs.”
― Paul Pierce
“Kids are the most genuine thing to me: everything they say and do, they mean it.”
― Paul Pierce
“Eating right is part of my lifestyle now.”
― Paul Pierce
“I didn’t have a dad around to pick me up when I fell, throw the ball to me outside. I always wonder how it would be if I did have a dad there.”
― Paul Pierce
“I found my father through other people, through my older brothers, my high school coaches, so I had men influences along the way who helped me.”
― Paul Pierce
“I love walking the streets of New York.”
― Paul Pierce
“The fans of New York are very knowledgeable about the game of basketball. They love their sports here.”
― Paul Pierce
“Good things only can last so long.”
― Paul Pierce
“It’s no secret that me and New York got history. It’s no secret. This is no secret. It’s already known.”
― Paul Pierce
“I remember I didn’t know who Jason Williams was, and he got drafted ahead of me. It was just weird. I thought I’d be in the top five, and I slipped all the way to 10, so it was a strange night for me.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve been around this game for a long time – a lot of plane rides, a lot of bus rides, a lot of pregame speeches, a lot of national anthems.”
― Paul Pierce
“I always thrive on wanting to play against the best.”
― Paul Pierce
“Winning’s not easy. In order to win, you’ve got to see the best.”
― Paul Pierce
“When I set my goals, I set them to where they fit within the team concept.”
― Paul Pierce
“I really don’t use a personal trainer.”
― Paul Pierce
“I play a lot of pick-up games; I run a lot on my own.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you’re a young player, and you’re starting to scratch your potential, you don’t know how good you can be.”
― Paul Pierce
“When Shaq gave me the nickname, it wasn’t no Joe-Bob giving you a nickname. This is Shaq. It was like, whoa.”
― Paul Pierce
“I knew guys way more talented than me who fell through the cracks.”
― Paul Pierce
“I think you’re a product of your influences, your environment. You see guys with so much talent, but they got the wrong people around them telling them the wrong things. They wind up going down the wrong path.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve always been known as a pure scorer, and I’ve always said if I just sat outside and shot 3s and just really focused on that – coming off of screens and spot-up 3s – and shot six or seven 3s a game, I would probably be more known as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history.”
― Paul Pierce
“I take the opportunity 3s, and I think I’m one of the better shooters.”
― Paul Pierce
“People probably won’t even remember I played for the Clippers.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you’re not winning in your last couple of years, it gets frustrating because where’s your motivation?”
― Paul Pierce
“Old-school guys, they don’t need to see the doctor, the massage therapist. We’d come in when we was 21; we’d go right to the court and start shooting.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve always been the Rodney Dangerfield of this game. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but that always drove me.”
― Paul Pierce
“If somebody said, ‘You’re going to be the Number 1 pick; you’re going to have a great team around you all these years’? It would’ve been too easy.”
― Paul Pierce
“I want to see my child grow.”
― Paul Pierce
“Personally, I think I’ve got split personalities, and I may need a psychiatrist. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Seriously. I’m serious about this.”
― Paul Pierce
“A lot of people don’t know this: when I was young, I wanted to be a garbage man. I asked my mom, and she said they made good money, and it was steady work.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’ve been talking basketball pretty much my whole life.”
― Paul Pierce
“I am a confident player, and a lot of people might look at it like, ‘Oh, another cocky attitude,’ but I don’t look at it that way.”
― Paul Pierce
“I have an opinion. I have a right to have one, and that’s the way I feel.”
― Paul Pierce
“Everybody knows how much I disliked the Knicks when I was with the Celtics, but I think it’s grown to another level.”
― Paul Pierce
“I don’t have to use anything to motivate me, a trade or anything like that, for me to say I want to win a championship.”
― Paul Pierce
“I want to be that guy that says I was one of the first guys to put a banner in Brooklyn.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you go against the best… a lot of series are won on fear factor or the non-belief. When you have that non-belief, then you have no chance.”
― Paul Pierce
“The whole business of basketball with China, it’s just a huge business that enables us to come over and connect with them and continue that fan affair.”
― Paul Pierce
“I’m the classic case of a great player on a bad team, and it stinks.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you play on bad defensive teams, you get labeled as a bad defender.”
― Paul Pierce
“I give my honest opinion, whether it’s right or wrong, but it’s an opinion that I’ll make.”
― Paul Pierce
“Everybody is entitled to an honest opinion.”
― Paul Pierce
“When you’ve been around the game so much for so many years, it’s just like it’s a part of you.”
― Paul Pierce
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