Paul Pierce fires a dart at Raptors' Kyle Lowry on ESPN's 'The Jump'
Members of the media just love to blow things out of proportion, don’t they?
And while I realize writing this article only feeds the fire, the words that came out of Paul Pierce’s mouth during Monday’s episode of ‘The Jump’ — a basketball talk show on ESPN — were simply ridiculous.
Pierce, a former NBA player turned analyst, called Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors a “regular season player” after he scored zero points in the Raptors’ shocking 104-101 loss to the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of their first round playoff matchup.
“There’s regular season players and there’s playoff players,” Pierce stated. “Some have both, some have only one. He’s showing that he’s a regular season player because when playoffs come, we have yet to see him really stand up and really give you that All-Star that he’s been over the years (type of) performance…”
In fairness, Lowry has had his struggles in the first games of playoff series in his NBA career. As ‘The Jump’ highlighted, his averages of 9.7 points per game and 33% shooting from the field in 12 career Game 1 appearances is not pretty. However, would this narrative be as talked about if the Raptors would have came out on top against the Magic on Saturday?
While he didn’t put up any points, the 33-year-old only needed two more assists and three more rebounds to complete the double-double (he writes with a cheeky smile).
But seriously, it’s only Game 1 of the series, people. If Lowry consistently played poorly in games where the Raptors were on the brink of elimination, that would be more concerning. There’s plenty of time for him and his teammates to redeem themselves.
Furthermore, let me remind you who made the aforementioned comments. Mr. Pierce has seemed to have Lowry’s number for the last half-decade or so. Back in 2014, it was Pierce that blocked Lowry in the dying moments of Toronto’s 104-103 Game 7 first-round loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
Then, as a member of the Washington Wizards in 2015, he said that the Raptors didn’t have “it” before his team’s first round series with Toronto. That proved to be true as the Raptors were swept, but Pierce’s history of you-know-what disturbing when it comes to Lowry and the team he plays for can’t be ignored while reflecting on what he said Monday.
Please remember, Pierce is also the guy that confidently stated earlier this month that he had a better career than Dwyane Wade. The man just seems to be willing to say things to get people riled up and talking.
As a result, from the outside looking in, this doesn’t appear to be anything more than a sports personality with an unoriginal take trying to get some attention early in the NBA postseason.
Now Lowry and Co. have to prove it was just that in Game 2 on Tuesday.
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