The day is finally almost here for Boston Celtics legendary small forward Paul Pierce, who will have his iconic No. 34 jersey retired to the rafters of TD Garden on Sunday night when the Celtics host their Eastern Conference rival in the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It's going to be Pierce's special night, as he will be forever enshrined as a Celtics legend with his jersey retirement. Just the thought of it all makes Pierce quite overwhelmed to join such elite company and those 17 championship banners.
“Oh wow. You know, it's just every day I'd walk into the practice facility and you'd see those numbers,” Pierce said. “That was inspirational with those numbers hanging up there and those banners. It was just like one day you know, I want to be up there. I want to be with this franchise long enough because when you look at the numbers and you see the accomplishments that they made, that was the example for me that I wanted to follow.”
Pierce considers having his number retired to the rafters of TD Garden a tremendous honor, joining the likes of Celtics legends Bill Russell, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Cedric Maxwell.
“How do you live up to McHale, Bird, Parish? Even Maxwell. Well, Maxwell was easy,” Pierce said with a laugh.
A clip of a video of Pierce's emotional interview with the media in Boston can be viewed below.
Also, now that the Cleveland Cavaliers traded star point guard Isaiah Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers back in Thursday before the NBA trade deadline, Pierce will get his retirement ceremony all to himself since the Celtics had planned to play a tribute video for Thomas on the jumbotron.
Thomas' tribute video is going to have to wait until next season, but it's still unsure what team he'll play for by that time as he is about to enter free agency this summer.
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