Paul Pierce played his last NBA minute over two years ago. His absence made no hearts grow fonder. Last night, while the Bucks drained the last drops of blood out of the Celtics’ season, Milwaukee’s arena lit up with a “Paul Pierce sucks” chant.
That wasn’t even this NBA season’s first instance of a “Paul Pierce sucks” chant. The previous one, during the Miami Heat’s final home game, addressed Paul Pierce-as-basketball player, because he claimed he had a better career than Dwyane Wade. This new one addressed Paul Pierce-as-TV analyst, because he confidently declared this series over after Boston’s Game 1 win.
Immediately after winning the next four games to take the series, the Bucks chose to double down on the message shouted by their fans. This is just admirable trolling on an institutional level:
If heavily deep-fried video is more your taste, this wonderful, deeply stupid meme may hit the spot:
Nothing an NBA player does on the court, no matter how impressive, will ever close off the possibility of being roasted to perfection after retirement. Pierce hasn’t exactly helped his own case, but within two years as an ESPN analyst he found himself sitting blank-faced on national TV as Jalen Rose dismissively ran down his résumé and Michelle Beadle contributed ad libs. Bleak.