NBA
Celtics Legend Rips Knicks: ‘No Championship in My Lifetime’
The Truth dropped what he believes is an uncomfortable truth to New York Knicks fans.
Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce believes that he will come and go without seeing the Knicks win a championship, professing such a belief on his web series “Ticket and The Thruth” alongside fellow Beantown star Kevin Garnett.
“I don’t believe the Knicks are winning a championship in my lifetime,” Pierce said when asked if the Knicks or the WNBA’s New York Liberty would bring the city a title first. “They will (win), but I won’t be around to see it.”
Pierce was born in 1977, four years after the Knicks’ second and most recent championship. This coming season, one set to build upon last year’s 50-win effort that placed second in the Eastern Conference, is one of the most anticipated in recent metropolitan memory but Pierce isn’t buying the hype.
“As long as (James) Dolan is the owner, I just don’t think they’ll win,” Pierce said despite Garnett’s protests. “I’m not the only one that’ll think that. Even the New York fans think that … This should be their best team they’ve assembled since (Patrick) Ewing, and (Latrell) Sprewell, and (Allan) Houston … but they’re in the middle of the Celtics right now, who are young.”
To Pierce’s point, the modern Celtics aren’t going anywhere after securing the franchise’s 18th NBA title and the first since Pierce and Garnett prevailed in 2008. Boston has retained most of its young franchise faces and figure to stage a realistic bid for a repeat once things get underway next month.
Pierce has had a rollercoaster relationship with the Knicks over the past year.
As New York began is ascent up the NBA leaderboard, Pierce compared the team to an Instagram model that uses “too many filters.” He later praised the team for proving him wrong last postseason, even showing up to the set with Garnett adorned in a Jalen Brunson jersey after they defied his prediction and took down the Philadelphia 76ers in round one. Pierce, however, ditched the threads after the Knicks dropped a seven-game set to the Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals, despite Brunson joining the lengthy injury report during the series.
Garnett was a bit more optimistic, reasoning that Brunson “can beat you” and that the revamped Villanova connection, now featuring former Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges, that has defined the team’s recent endeavors will pay big dividends.
“I ain’t even high on the Knicks,” Garnett said. “I’m just sitting back watching it like ‘oh s***, you’ve got the best player from Brooklyn over here now, with these pieces that already know him’ … Pace-wise, you’re build like the Pacers, low-key, I see what y’all are doing.”
The Knicks will have an instant opportunity to start proving Pierce wrong, as their 2024-25 season opens on Oct. 22 at the home of the defending champion Celtics.