Back in 2008, Boston Celtics fans were deeply worried for a brief moment when star forward Paul Pierce went down with what appeared to be a very serious injury.
Pierce suffered the apparent injury during the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Luckily for the Celtics, Pierce was actually able to return to the court shortly after and went on to help the team ultimately secure the 2008 NBA championship.
Following the series, there were assertions that Pierce was actually not injured at all. In fact, the persisting rumor these days is that Pierce faked the injury because he desperately had to use the restroom.
Pierce hasn’t spoken about the rumor much, but he recently threw a bit of a jab at the Lakers while discussing the incident and denying the rumors.
Paul Pierce claps back at the people that says he pooped his pants
“Only sh!tting I did was on the Lakers”
(Via @IAMATHLETEpod ) pic.twitter.com/Gz80MlUSnH
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 14, 2023
This is actually not the first time that Pierce has denied the story. In an interview with The Athletic in 2021, Pierce argued that the fact that he sat in a wheelchair following the incident proves that he did not have an accident on the floor.
“If you poop your pants, does it make sense to sit down and mush it in a wheelchair?” Pierce asked Michelle Beadle. “I would walk back there and go straight to the bathroom. Why would I need a wheelchair if I pooped my pants? You don’t sit down on your poop, right? It doesn’t make sense.”
No matter what, Lakers fans and other folks who believe the restroom-related rumors likely won’t be satisfied with Pierce’s most recent quip. With that in mind, there is no doubt that he was quite incredible in that series.
He led the Celtics in scoring in the series, averaging 21.8 points points per game while adding 6.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest. He was named the Finals MVP that season, topping off what was arguably the crowning achievement of his Hall of Fame career.
Luckily for the Lakers, they got their revenge two years later in the 2010 NBA Finals. That duel featured a rematch of the 2008 series and ended up giving fans one of the most iconic seven-game Finals series in recent memory.
Unsurprisingly, late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant was the MVP of that series, though Pierce arguably would have won the award had his Celtics managed to nab the win in the memorable defensive battle that was Game 7.
In the end, it seems likely that the full truth will never be known about Pierce and his NBA Finals injury. It’s just one of those things that is going to be left as a mystery in the lore of the league.
