Paul Pierce's Trolling Is In Full Effect, Declaring That LeBron Can't Be In The GOAT Debate If He Loses In The First Round

Get em Paul!! You knew there was no way Paul Pierce was going to keep this hot takes quiet after LeBron and the Lakers blew Game 1 last night. This is why I will forever love this man. He's used to saying outrageous shit on TV and he wasn't going to miss another opportunity to take a dig at LeBron. Even if the rational part of my brain says we're all overreacting a little bit to one loss, I'm certainly not going to complain about Lakers fans having to deal with this nonsense. You want to talk all that shit during the year and then lay an egg like that in the first playoff game in 7 years, this is what happens. 

Now, it should be stated that Michael Jordan, maybe you've heard of him, lost three separate times in the first round in his career. It wasn't quite the same, the Bulls were never the 1 seed or anything like that, but he did lose in the first round. Pretty sure nobody counts that as a reason he can't be the GOAT. He also put up insane numbers in those series losses so it wasn't exactly his fault. It's also fair to say that those Jordan teams never had a talent like Anthony Davis playing next to him. 

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But if the Lakers somehow do lose this series? Oh boy. Wasting two years of LeBron, gutting your roster and your future for Anthony Davis only to lose to an 8 seed? Woof. That's a big time problem. Remember, Anthony Davis hasn't signed that extension just yet. I still think it's wayyyyyyyy too early from starting to talk about that scenario, and honestly even if LeBron does get bounced early it shouldn't impact how he's viewed historically. What, his 16 previous years of dominance isn't enough of a sample size? That doesn't get reversed just because he gets bounced early in Year 17. So while I appreciate Pierce's trolling I can't say I agree. No matter what happens for his entire Lakers tenure LeBron is still going to be included in the GOAT debate, as he should. 

I will say though, it's been a great morning watching this all unfold. Lakers fans already turning on their roster after one game, LeBron saying not having crowd noise is an issue, now he has no help, it's all fantastic. Chances are it'll be short lived once the Lakers figure this thing out because there is so much basketball to be played still, but for now you can inject these takes right into my goddamn veins. 

In conclusion, there's only one way to end this blog. You had to know this was coming