Paul Pierce might still be in the wheelchair Doc Rivers gave him for his retirement

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer
Nobody's as relaxes as Paul Pierce in a wheelchair. (
Nobody’s as relaxes as Paul Pierce in a wheelchair. (“Inside the NBA” screenshot)

As an unapologetic fan of those late 2000s Boston Celtics, I always imagined a world where one day an aging Paul Pierce would be pulling up to Kevin Garnett in their retirement community, riding a wheelchair he doesn’t even need, and they’d share stories about the glory days. I just never imagined that day would come so soon after Pierce’s retirement and KG’s Area 21 set would be that community.

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Yet, through the awful grace of Doc Rivers, we were treated to this scenario during TNT’s “Inside the NBA” on Monday night, when the former C’s coach gifted Pierce a wheelchair to spend out his days:

This, of course, was an ode to Pierce’s infamous Wheelchair Game — the opener of the 2008 NBA Finals, when Pierce fell to the TD Garden floor clutching his knee and left in a wheelchair, only to return seconds later and lead the Celtics to victory, as if nothing ever happened. It was truly bizarre:

Pierce not only took the gift in stride, he stayed in the wheelchair for the rest of the night, sunglasses and sweats and all, like an 85-year-old at the shuffleboard court. These were Doc’s orders, after all:

Retirement is treating Paul Pierce well, thank you very much. (
Retirement is treating Paul Pierce well, thank you very much. (“Inside the NBA” screenshot)

Seriously, nobody has felt so comfortable in a wheelchair:

There were stories told, to be sure. Pierce, Garnett & Co. went deep on their beef with Ray Allen, Pierce’s plans to sign a one-day deal with Boston and retire as a Celtic and the origins of Ubuntu.

On top of that, Rivers basically called everyone on that title team crazy, Glen “Big Baby” Davis admitted to somehow losing an arm wrestling match against Garnett, Kendrick Perkins revealed Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are on speaking terms again, and Rajon Rondo suggested his Chicago Bulls would have swept the Celtics in the first round this year had he not gotten hurt in Game 2.

In other words, this segment absolutely needs to be part of the show on a nightly basis.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!