Pierce: Greatness with Celtics judged by titles

By Roscoe Nance, USA TODAY     Posted 1/12/2006

Paul Pierce is keeping pretty fast company as he moves up the Boston Celtics' all-time scoring list.

Pierce, who has scored 13,012 points in his eight-year career, moved past Hall of Famer Bill Sharman into 10th place earlier this season. At his current scoring pace (26.5 points a game), he should pass No. 9 JoJo White (13,188) early next month and No. 8 Dave Cowens (13,192) before the end of the season. John Havlicek is No. 1 at 26,395.

"I don't even think about it," Pierce says of his climb up the scoring chart. "I'm just doing what I'm doing with my God-given ability. I guess it does say a lot.

"There's a lot of tradition here, a lot of Hall of Famers. The thing about that is a lot of them have championships. I feel like until I get a championship, how can I be mentioned among them?"

The Celtics haven't advanced beyond the conference finals — where they lost to the New Jersey Nets in 2002 — since Pierce arrived in 1998, and their championship prospects this season are bleak at best. But Pierce, a four-time All-Star, is having his best season, with career highs in scoring, field goal percentage (.501) and rebounds (7.5).

Celtics TV analyst Tom Heinsohn, a Hall of Famer and a member of nine championship teams, says Pierce deserves being ranked among the franchise's all-time greats, title or no title.

"He could be the best offensive player who ever played for the Celtics," Heinsohn says. "He overpowers you with quickness. He overpowers you with strength. He has a post game. He's a terrific offensive player."

Adds coach Doc Rivers: "His offensive efficiency is off the charts now. More importantly, he's passing the ball. He's getting guys involved."