Boston Celtics: 3 greatest games of Paul Pierce’s career in green

Game 3- 2002 Eastern Conference Finals vs. New Jersey Nets

Before there was a Big 3 part II, there was the tandem of Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker.  The duo led the Boston Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals against Jason Kidd and the then-New Jersey Nets.

With the series tied 1-1, Pierce and the Celtics orchestrated the biggest comeback in franchise history.

I will always remember this game because I had a gut feeling the team would find a way to pull it out – even down as many as 26 points in the game.

Kidd and the Nets simply dominated the first three quarters of the game.  The Celtics just look lethargic in the first half and the little bit of life they had peeked through towards the end of the third quarter.

Led by Pierce, Boston begin to chip away at a 74-53 fourth quarter lead by the Nets. No. 34 scored 19 of his game-high 28 points down the stretch to jolt his team past New Jersey, 94-90.

The historic fourth-quarter comeback was capped off by Pierce jumping on the scorer’s table pumping his fist.  The Celtics went on to lose the series, but that one game put Paul Pierce on the NBA map as a clutch performer.