I notice a lot of hatred for Paul Pierce outside of New England..but why?

[perks-a-beast]

I've found that there is an abnormal level of hatred for the captain from non-Celtics fans. Either folks call him over rated (which the exact opposite is the truth - pun intended) or just flat out hate him for whatever reason. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've never heard so much hate for any other NBA player outside of Boston...it's like anyone whose not a Celtics fan views the guy in the same way Celtics fans view Bill Lambier

All i'm saying is that if you're going to hate a player have some taste...not someone like pierce who overcame so much adversity and is a pretty well rounded human being by all accounts...

[droopdog7]

Wheelchair.

[Donoghus]

I think the Wheelchair game turned off a certain segment of people to Pierce. 

I have no real recollection of how damaging Pierce's '02 World Championship appearance was to his image long term.  I just recall him sorta being the fall guy for that team.

[Erik]

Also he's one of the NBA analysts who are clearly still homering about their former team.

[Donoghus]

There was the bandage game too.  I remember a lot of the Boston media being pretty peeved about that & wanting him out of town.

[SparzWizard]

Wheelchair game. Claiming he's the "best player in the world" after winning the title in 2008. Seems like a dramatic queen at times, at least to other people.

But I love the guy.

[Moranis]

I haven't seen too much Pierce hate in either SW or NE Ohio (except of course when the C's and Cavs were playing). 

[perks-a-beast]

Wheelchair.

Not even a close to a legitimate reason. Pierce never said "get me a wheelchair." it was a matter of over caution by the Celtics medical staff. I don't blame Pierce for grimacing in pain as much as he did either...it's his first trip to the finals, he hears a pop in his knee and felt a lot of pain and thought he blew his ACL. I would have reacted the same way if not worse. It's like that one moment of his career completely negates the fact that he is as tough and durable as they come..heck, the guy nearly got stabbed to death and played only a couple weeks later.

[Monkhouse]

Pierce comes off as a very sarcastic person who seems to love trolling and talking trash. That tends to rub people off the wrong way.

The trash talking after nailing daggers in player's eyes, bandage game of press conference of Game 6 vs Pacers, the wheelchair incident, arguing with coaches, being immature when he was younger.

[Donoghus]

Wheelchair.

Not even a close to a legitimate reason. Pierce never said "get me a wheelchair." it was a matter of over caution by the Celtics medical staff. I don't blame Pierce for grimacing in pain as much as he did either...it's his first trip to the finals, he hears a pop in his knee and felt a lot of pain and thought he blew his ACL. I would have reacted the same way if not worse. It's like that one moment of his career completely negates the fact that he is as tough and durable as they come..heck, the guy nearly got stabbed to death and played only a couple weeks later.

You asked for reasons, though.  The fact that he DID get carted out in a wheelchair then returned in the same game made him look like a drama queen to a lot of people and rubbed them the wrong way.

People on here do it all the time with Lebron's overdramatizing "injuries".  If he got carted out of an arena then returned fine in the same game, this blog would absolutely explode.

[SparzWizard]

I haven't seen too much Pierce hate in either SW or NE Ohio (except of course when the C's and Cavs were playing).

Oh I know the entire city of Toronto and New York hates Paul Pierce. He breaks both cities' hearts all the time. Especially true to Toronto and their postseason meetups with PP34 

[perks-a-beast]

aside from the hatred part, i'm completely baffled by the overrated part...

I'm thinking of all this because last night espn twitter posted a video because it was the 10 year anniversary of the "wheelchair game" and sooo many of the comments were from fans calling pierce overrated...

we're talking about a 10 time all star who lead some pretty bad teams pretty far in the playoffs before KG and Ray came...ended up 15th on the all time scoring list while sacrificing a lot of his offensive game to coincide with two other all time greats...yet he's overrated? Also one of the greatest clutch players the league has ever seen...

[kozlodoev]

I think the Wheelchair game turned off a certain segment of people to Pierce. 

I have no real recollection of how damaging Pierce's '02 World Championship appearance was to his image long term.  I just recall him sorta being the fall guy for that team.

I think it's mostly that Pierce was an under the radar guy. He wasn't flashy on or off the court, so outside of the 2008/2010 finals, all he's remembered for is the WC and the wheelchair.

I don't get it either. The guy nearly got stabbed to death and then played as if it didn't happen. He was also criminally underrated around the NBA for years because (I think mostly because he was getting lumped together with Toine the Chuckster).

[Monkhouse]

aside from the hatred part, i'm completely baffled by the overrated part...

I'm thinking of all this because last night espn twitter posted a video because it was the 10 year anniversary of the "wheelchair game" and sooo many of the comments were from fans calling pierce overrated...

we're talking about a 10 time all star who lead some pretty bad teams pretty far in the playoffs before KG and Ray came...ended up 15th on the all time scoring list while sacrificing a lot of his offensive game to coincide with two other all time greats...yet he's overrated? Also one of the greatest clutch players the league has ever seen...

I've stated this many times before.. Pierce was one of the most underrated small forwards of our time, and yet has never made All-First Team despite putting up some crazy numbers.

It's okay, we have the reincarnated version of Pierce in Jayson Tatum. All is well.

[Roy H.]

1. He’s a Celtic;

2. He was a bit of a drama queen and flailer;

3. The 2008 Celtics were a trash-talking, borderline dirty team;

4. The IT thing was petty.