<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Jul 31 2008, 04:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bling890 @ Jul 31 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know why people were arguing earlier about who was most important to the celtics. Without KG the celtics don't win the title. Without Paul Pierce the Celtics don't win the title (made painfully evident by the silenced Boston Garden once he had to be carried off because of his knee injury). Both players contributed equally and it would be unfair to give either player more credit than the other for bringing Boston a championship.</div> Without Rajon Rondo the Celtics don't win a title. Does he deserve equal credit, too? How about James Posey? Eddie House? This was KG's team. Everyone else was a compliment to him. </div> It is very easy to prove that it wasn't KG's team. They had success in the playoffs. </div> Which I already explained and you ignored. </div> Neither is true. Throughout the regular season, the three of them tried to figure out how to play with each other and it wasn't any one player's team. Yes, the defense was good and KG's play had a lot to do with that (not DPOY worth though) but the identity of the team wasn't formed until they were pushed against the wall in the playoffs and it was Pierce that stepped up and led the Celtics.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Jul 31 2008, 04:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Jul 31 2008, 04:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bling890 @ Jul 31 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know why people were arguing earlier about who was most important to the celtics. Without KG the celtics don't win the title. Without Paul Pierce the Celtics don't win the title (made painfully evident by the silenced Boston Garden once he had to be carried off because of his knee injury). Both players contributed equally and it would be unfair to give either player more credit than the other for bringing Boston a championship.</div> Without Rajon Rondo the Celtics don't win a title. Does he deserve equal credit, too? How about James Posey? Eddie House? This was KG's team. Everyone else was a compliment to him. </div> It is very easy to prove that it wasn't KG's team. They had success in the playoffs. </div> Which I already explained and you ignored. </div> Neither is true. Throughout the regular season, the three of them tried to figure out how to play with each other and it wasn't any one player's team. Yes, the defense was good and KG's play had a lot to do with that (not DPOY worth though) but the identity of the team wasn't formed until they were pushed against the wall in the playoffs and it was Pierce that stepped up and led the Celtics. </div> I concur with this. KG had his moments where he could have taken over and been clutch, but didn't exactly come through. In the end, it was Peirce who came through for the Celtics.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Jul 31 2008, 04:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Jul 31 2008, 04:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bling890 @ Jul 31 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know why people were arguing earlier about who was most important to the celtics. Without KG the celtics don't win the title. Without Paul Pierce the Celtics don't win the title (made painfully evident by the silenced Boston Garden once he had to be carried off because of his knee injury). Both players contributed equally and it would be unfair to give either player more credit than the other for bringing Boston a championship.</div> Without Rajon Rondo the Celtics don't win a title. Does he deserve equal credit, too? How about James Posey? Eddie House? This was KG's team. Everyone else was a compliment to him. </div> It is very easy to prove that it wasn't KG's team. They had success in the playoffs. </div> Which I already explained and you ignored. </div> Neither is true. Throughout the regular season, the three of them tried to figure out how to play with each other and it wasn't any one player's team. Yes, the defense was good and KG's play had a lot to do with that (not DPOY worth though) but the identity of the team wasn't formed until they were pushed against the wall in the playoffs and it was Pierce that stepped up and led the Celtics. </div> Without the real leadership of KG getting Pierce (and by association everyone else) to buy into the new order of things, they never get anywhere near that point. Ray Allen's head was elsewhere for much of the season. He needed an annoying guy like KG to keep him focused. Pierce's job is to score, so if you equate that with leadership, then he was the "leader". I see it as him playing his role. He did it well, but that's not why they won the title or were the best team all season. This was a defensive team. One of the better ones ever.
I know its the off-season, but this is a very loooongggg, un-Nets-ish thread. C'mon Guys and Gals, I'm sure there is a Ryan Anderson tattoo or fetish we could discuss.
There was a time when the Knicks had about $60 million worth of expiring contracts. If Garnett happened to have been available, Isiah could have acquired him. Isiah would have been the best GM in the world.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 03:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Ray Allen's head was elsewhere for much of the season. He needed an annoying guy like KG to keep him focused. Pierce's job is to score, so if you equate that with leadership, then he was the "leader". I see it as him playing his role. He did it well, but that's not why they won the title or were the best team all season. This was a defensive team. One of the better ones ever.</div> Wow?! First of all, Ray's game had to change in order for him to fit on that team. I don't think that GP's or Malone's head was elsewhere when they were on the Lakers, but their stats went down. To say that Paul Pierce simply played a role takes away from what he did all season. A leader is the heart and soul of the team, KG gets loud and made everyone eat PBJ before games, but I still consider Pierce to be the leader.
This is what I was talking about. I think it definitely affected his game at points throughout the season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (hoopskidd5 @ Jul 31 2008, 05:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That report is from 2005..</div> Link.
Boston win the champion，so Paul Pierce said that，if they didn't win the champion ，Paul Pierce will say nothing......
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 06:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (hoopskidd5 @ Jul 31 2008, 05:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That report is from 2005..</div> Link. </div> first link did at least lol
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ghoti @ Jul 31 2008, 04:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bling890 @ Jul 31 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know why people were arguing earlier about who was most important to the celtics. Without KG the celtics don't win the title. Without Paul Pierce the Celtics don't win the title (made painfully evident by the silenced Boston Garden once he had to be carried off because of his knee injury). Both players contributed equally and it would be unfair to give either player more credit than the other for bringing Boston a championship.</div> Without Rajon Rondo the Celtics don't win a title. Does he deserve equal credit, too? How about James Posey? Eddie House? This was KG's team. Everyone else was a compliment to him. </div> Pierce was the most important part. He wanted to be the man. KG didn't. Pierce played defense in the Finals, as well.
After watching the majority of the season (more than 90% of the games) and then every single game during the playoffs (missed a half during the atlanta series), I saw how valuable KG is to a team, he went after balls every single time, never stopped defending, always was vocal in getting other players defend, and was always a leader out there. If that doesn't get you enough to be the defensive player of the year, then I'm not sure what does. (this goes to cpaw) And gotta agree with Ghoti, this Celtics team was probably one of the best defensive teams ever to play in the nba. (ranked with the best out there)
Here's what I'm seeing. Correct me if I'm wrong. Cpaw is saying that, based on what the players did on the court, Pierce was a better, more consistent and overall more important player than KG. Ghoti is saying that KG's play set a tone for the team, and in doing so caused the rest of the team to play at a high level. The two arguments don't seem mutually exclusive. Pierce made bigger plays than KG, but KG did more for pushing players to play harder. I personally think that KG's impact was bigger. Without him, Rondo is still searching for an identity, Perkins is just another random center, Pierce is still a guy who can hit huge shots, but doesn't have a team to get him in a position where he has to, Posey wouldn't even be on the team, and so on, and so forth. I agree that KG often flakes out in big moments, but he got the team to a point where his teammates could do it for themselves.
Not even close. In my opinion the NBA's top 5 players ranks as follows: Kobe LeBron Paul Garnett Howard/Iverson/Tmac Heck, Pierce isn't even the best SF in the league~
