Robb: Paul Pierce Considering Retirement After Magical Postseason
BOSTON (CBS) – Paul Pierce's magical postseason run with the Washington Wizards came to an unfortunate halt on Friday night.
Another storybook ending for the 37-year-old was stolen away after Pierce hit an apparent game-tying 3-point shot as regulation expired in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Atlanta Hawks. After an official review, the video showed the shot attempt was released a few hundredths of a second too late. The game was over, and so was the series, won by the Hawks, four-games-to-two.
It was the second straight season the Wizards were eliminated in the second-round of the playoffs, but it was tough to characteristic this defeat as a disappointment. Not after star point guard John Wall fractured his wrist and hand in Game 1 of the matchup against Atlanta. Washington stole a game without Wall, but the point guard was clearly limited when he returned in Game 5. At full strength, they would have had a strong chance of pulling of the upset.
Washington stayed afloat and competitive despite Wall's injury in large part due to Pierce's stellar performance.
In just under 30 minutes per game this postseason, Pierce averaged 14.6 points on 48 percent shooting from the field and a whopping 52 percent from 3-point range. The fact that Pierce took more than six three-pointers per game during the playoffs made him a top-5 outside shooter in year 17 of his career.
At this juncture, it's unclear if there will be a year 18 for Pierce in the NBA. He's got a player option to return to Washington next season for just under $6 million dollars, but was hesitant to commit to coming back next season after Friday's defeat, via Adam Kilmore of Washington Post.
"Truthfully, what was going through my mind is, I don't have too much of these efforts left, if any," Pierce said. "These rides throughout the NBA season, throughout the playoffs, are very emotional. They take a lot out of not only your body, but your mind, your spirit…I don't even know if I'm going to play basketball anymore," Pierce said
At first glance, it's easy to dismiss some of Pierce's comments about calling it quits as a natural reaction in the hours following a devastating loss. The former Celtic captain has been referencing the possible idea of retirement since as far back as the 2011-2012 season. In an interview with ESPNBoston's Jackie MacMullan back in April, he told the columnist he expected to play one, if not two more seasons. The flip-flopping is nothing new for Pierce and should continue throughout the summer.
Given his sensational production on the floor and his successful antics off the court in the Raptors-Wizards first-round series, it's clear Pierce has plenty of basketball and competitive drive left in him. He's taken care of his body well enough throughout his nearly 25,000 NBA minutes to give the Wizards or some other contending team a boost off the bench as he finishes off a Hall-of-Fame career, even in his late 30s.
It's unclear if Pierce will ever be able to top his playoff performance from the last few weeks, but the small forward is just playing too well right now to walk away.
Boston and NBA fans can only hope that truth becomes apparent to the long-time Celtics star, since the league is better off with guys like Pierce around.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.