Put away your stat sheets and MVP voting ballots. I won't need them where we're going.
All we need to look at is a Game 7 where a 66-win powerhouse was on the ropes with the sensational and already legendary LeBron James coming full-force to knock them on their behind and put them out of commission for the summer. It's the players who come out for these games that we need to remember.
The regular season provides a stage for players to make themselves known. With an 82-game sample size, you really have to respect anyone who can sustain a level of play for that long.
It's the playoffs, though, that really takes great players and turns them into legends.
It's the guys who prepare for the big games that make their legacies the most memorable.
It is the players who can still do what they please against a defense that has been studying their moves on film in a hot and stinky locker room for 48 hours.
It is really a matter of will, separating talented winners from talented losers.
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So when Paul Pierce goes into tonight's game and says to himself, "I'm not only going to take on the responsibility of guarding LeBron, I'm also going to stick it to him on the other end." That is a big-time approach. You think this guy is scared of King James? I don't. Pierce had an iron will in Game 7 that is legendary.
This didn't stop James from throwing up a big game. I don't think anything or anyone really can stop him when he wants to have a big game. He, like Pierce, gets up for the big games.
What Pierce did do was play him evenly. He took on the challenge. He guarded James. He took the big shots, and he made those big shots.
This is a big deal because the Celtics have three stars. Garnett, Pierce and Allen all have been the lone stars on their respective teams for years. So going into this season, they've decided to defer to each other for the sake of the system, and up until this point, it's worked perfectly.
Game 7 against King James, however, it would not have worked. One of those three had to step up. Somebody had to go blow-for-blow with LeBron.
There is no way they could have been successful by continuing to defer to each other. The Eastern Conference Champions were making their final push.
Pierce decided to break off and be a little selfish. That takes balls, but it needed to be done. They needed a leader. They didn't need someone to scream and yell in the first half on a defensive play. They needed big shots and someone who could somewhat offset what LeBron was doing.
If not for Paul stepping forward, all three would have gone back to the losing reputation that they had gained throughout their careers.
I hope Garnett and Ray buy him dinner Monday night. He saved their butts.
Next time I see the Celtics in a game preview, I better see "Paul Pierce and the Celtics" because in Game 7, against the Eastern Conference Champions, in a head-to-head match up with LeBron freaking James, Paul Pierce earned his stripes.
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