Amid the celebrations and flagrant foul debates that followed Game 5, I forgot to acknowledge a first in Paul Pierce’s wonderful career: The jumper he hit with 3.4 seconds left in overtime to put the Celtics ahead in Game 5 was his first ever game-winning shot in the playoffs.
A few months ago, 82games.com updated its database of game-winning (or potential game-winning) shots, defined as shots taken with less than 24 seconds remaining in regulation (or overtime) in a tie game or one in which the shooter’s team trails by one or two points.
The update prompted me to dig into game logs for all 63 playoff games Paul Pierce had played before this season in order to rank his five best clutch performances. There are some legendary games on this list, topped by his 41-point Game 7 masterpiece against the Cavs last season.
But one thing was missing: In 63 games, Paul Pierce had never made a game-winning field goal under the 82games definition. Without going through the game logs again, I’d estimate he was something like 0-of-3 or 0-of-4 from the field in game-winning situations.
So yesterday’s jumper was another little milestone in the Truth’s Hall of Fame career.
Hopefully the C’s won’t need the second one to win Game 6.
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