We sat in various parts of Terminal C in New Orleans Louis Armstrong Airport in February 2010 everyone waiting for a flight to Dallas for the NBA All Star Game.
I heard the wheels and looked left. Paul Pierce a hand clamped on each wheel edged past the suitcases and extended legs of passengers expertly swirling as if he had been practicing these wheelchair moves.
He had a strained left foot. He probably had no business playing in that All Star Game. Phil Jackson had hung the drama queen label on Pierce after Game 1 of the 2008 Finals when Pierce was helped into a wheelchair after leaving the floor in the third quarter and returned in the fourth to bury back to back 3 pointers and win the game.
A nurse or someone dressed as a nurse wheeled a beaming giggling Pierce onto the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live days after he was named MVP of the 2008 Finals. His arms cradled the Larry O Brien trophy like an infant.
Two years later and he was still clowning with Jackson.
Ah it s nothing I m just kiddin he said.
I asked if he was trying to keep that old 2008 joke alive and he agreed.
But that was real this is just foolin he said and rolled off on his tour of the gate area.
This was a little too enjoyable for Pierce. The gate agent announced first class boarding and Pierce now being pushed by his cousin Dave and nodding at the onlookers was wheeled down the jet way.
I told Rajon Rondo that this was how rumors started.
For real the Celtics point guard said with a cynical stare at the wheelchair as it disappeared around the corner.
Some people can riff their way to great moments and sure enough Pierce won the NBA s 3 point contest that weekend. He also missed time over the second half of the season to that sore foot. There s no question he should have sat out every event.
But that wouldn t have been Pierce.
Celtics fans know him for so much more but what they re about to start missing is the departure of an all time character one of the true originals in franchise history.
Other Celtics greats were renowned trash talkers. Larry Bird could make opponents blush and drop the ball look foolish in the biggest moment. But Pierce has gone through 14 seasons with one of the greatest game time mouths of his generation. His head to head harangues with Ron Artest never caught on tape must have included some rare language. He loved closing down Madison Square Garden with a big shot and a few choice words once an unseemly hock of saliva as he walked down the tunnel.
John Havlicek scored more points but even Bird has admitted Pierce was probably on his way to becoming the most explosive scorer in franchise history.
Reluctantly mind you.
Pierce with that off speed dare you to stop it pull up of his as great a shot in franchise lore as Sam Jones soft banker and Bird s baseline jumper.
But unlike Jones Bird and Havlicek Pierce won t realize one of his oft stated dreams and retire with the same team that drafted him.
It just doesn t happen anymore as the enormous trade about to ship him to Brooklyn proves.
Pierce will finish his career in the navy blue of the Nets and don t expect him to reach a third city. He ll take this final shot with Kevin Garnett still at his side Joe Johnson once again his teammate a great playmaker in Deron Williams to get him the ball and probably retire.
Pierce had turned especially fatalistic over the last two years. He grew more remote more reserved with the media.
The injuries that once seemed to amuse him made him want to goof in a wheelchair now had the Celtics captain shaking his head in doubt. He talked of walking away from the game at the same time as Garnett.
The sad part is that the Nets now offer Pierce his best shot at a second ring before he rests those weary bones and joints for good.
He ll be back twice next year in a Brooklyn uniform. Raise your hand if that seems right.
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