Paul Pierce Talking About The Time He Got Stabbed Back In 2000 Is Crazy

I'll never forget when this all went down back in late September in 2000. Paul Pierce getting stabbed all those times and getting smashed in the face with a bottle which resulted in a collapsed lung and all this other shit was absolutely wild. Pierce was coming off a 19.5/5.0/3.4 season at age 22, he was setting up to be the next great Boston star athlete and then boom, everything could have changed in an instant. I'd never heard him talk about that incident in much detail before so I found this clip fascinating. He then went on to talk about how he carried a gun for a few years afterwards and was super paranoid and all this shit. How could you not be? 

What's even crazier and in my opinion one of the most impressive things an athlete has ever done was despite being stabbed in late September, Pierce played in all 82 games that season! He put up 25.3/6.4/3.1 on 45/38% shooting! That would be the final season he wasn't named an All Star before a run of 5 straight seasons and in total he would make it in 10 of the next 11. A first ballot Hall Of Famer and NBA champion, I've long said for my generation he was our Larry Bird. To think of how close we were from having none of that shit happen because of a fight in a club is bananas. 

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Since we all have time to kill today I suggest watching the full interview

Then when you're done with that, sprinkle a little Pierce highlights in. They rule