Celtics captain passed Larry Bird for second place on team’s all-time scoring list. Debate rages on as to whether or not he is a Top 5 Celtic. Metro squeezes No. 34 in, but barely.
1. Bill Russell 1956-69
Eleven NBA championships. That’s all you need to know. Russell changed the game with his defensive prowess and averaged 22.5 rebounds per game in his career. He was a five-time NBA MVP.
Snub: Dave Cowens
Cowens has a legit gripe as he was an NBA MVP – Pierce can’t say that.
2. Larry Bird 1979-1992
Larry Legend brought home three NBA titles, earning Finals MVP in 1984 and 1986, and was a league MVP three times as well.
Bird was as clutch a shooter as any player in NBA history and his passing skills were out of this world.
Snub: Kevin McHale
With Bird as the ’80s star, we’ll never know what No. 32 would have done on his own.
3. John Havlicek 1962-78
“Hondo” was a member of eight Celtics championship teams and is the all-time C’s leader in games played, minutes played, field goals made and attempted and, of course, points with a whopping 26,395.
Snub: Kevin Garnett
KG will go down as a better player than PP but his best years were in Minny.
4. Bob Cousy 1950-63
The original Steve Nash, Cousy added flash to a rather boring NBA scene at the time, all while picking up six NBA titles as the Celtics point guard.
He is the Celtics all-time assist leader and won the league MVP in 1957.
Snub: Sam Jones
As underrated as they come, Jones led the Celtics in scoring three times in the 1960s.
5. Paul Pierce 1998-present
Tommy Heinsohn is no stranger to hyperbole, but the Celtics analyst once called Pierce the “greatest pure scorer in franchise history.”
As No. 34 passed Bird’s career scoring mark of 21,791 last night, it’s becoming harder to argue against Tommy.
Pierce scored his first Celtics points on Feb. 5, 1999.
