Paul Pierce: 6ft 7in, 235lbs, all heart.  And what a heart it is.  From growing up on the streets of Inglewood, California, to his days at the University of Kansas, being the 10th pick in the 1998 NBAdraft, being stabbed 11 times in 2000, answering critics and shrugging off trade rumors, and finally coming through it all as a NBA Champion in 2008.  What a road it has been.

Raised in Inglewood, California, Pierce was cut from his high school varsity basketball team his Freshman and Sophomore years.  Paul was frustrated to the point where he thought about transfering schools.  But in the end, he decided to stick it out and work harder, and eventually became the star of his basketball team his Junior and Senior years at Inglewood High, netting him a full ride to the University of Kansas.

"I wanted to go somewhere where someone would push me," he says. "If I went to a team where everything was built around me, I'd probably get lazy and spoiled."  "I wanted to go to a team that also had a chance to win a national championship, where I'd get good exposure and have a good head coach--somewhere where I could learn."  Kansas had all of these things.  A Hall of Fame coach in Roy Williams, and a good nucleus of veteran players such as Jacque Vaughn, Jerod Haase, Scot Pollard and Raef LaFrentz.  During his 3 year stint at Kansas, Pierce averaged 16.4 points and 6.3 rebounds, earning MVP honors during the Big 12 Conference Tounament in 1997 and in 1998.  Pierce decided to go into the NBA draft after his '98 season.  Roy Williams had this to say about Paul, "Maybe he could average eight to 10 more points a game (somewhere else), but his fieldgoal percentage would probably be down in the low 40s (vs. his percentage of .497, .391 from 3-point range). Instead, he's taking good shots. He's getting people involved. He's a far better player. He's a complete player."  And after going 10th overall to the Celtics, Pierce was ready to show the world just how complete.

10th overall?  Pierce was disappointed.  He felt he was the best player in the draft.  And with the exception of Dirk Nowitzki (9th overall), who could you make an argument for that they should have been before Pierce?  So, with a chip on his shoulder, Pierce went to work.

 But in 2000, tragedy struck.  On Sept. 25, Pierce was stabbed 11 times at a Boston nightclub after getting in an altercation with the brother of a woman with whom he was speaking. He was hit in the head with a bottle and stabbed multiple times in the neck, chest and back. He underwent lung surgery to repair the damage. An inch or so in another direction and he would have died.  "I keep my mind off of it," Pierce says. "Basketball, being around my family, not talking about it. And when I'm on the court, I never think about the incident. It's tough, day in, day out, not to think about it, or dream about it. I'm not gonna lie. I have. And I wake up and I see the different scars on my body, it's hard not to think about it."  I bet it is/was Paul.  Nearly losing you life to something senseless can be nerve racking.

So, after a few years in the NBA, and the stabbing incident behind him, Pierce's ability to score, rebound, play defense, and a healthy dose of late-game heroics led to his emergence as a top player in the Eastern Conference.  And in 2002, along with forward Antoine Walker, Pierce led the Celtics to the playoffs for the first time in seven years and on to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Nets.

But then the trade rumors started surfacing, which started when Danny Ainge returned as the Executive Director of Basketball Operations in May 2003.  Even some fans started questioning whether Pierce could deliver a NBA Championship.  Pierce fought on, and was rewarded with a 3 year 59 million dollar contract extension in 2006.  Ainge and the Celtic higher ups believed in Paul, now it was time to make the fans believe.

After a injury riddled 2006-2007 season, Paul expressed great excitement at the Celtics' acquisitions of fellow All-Stars Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, and at the chance to contend for a championship. He slimmed down to his college weight of 230lbs and vowed to pay more attention to defense, as he wouldn't have to carry the offense anymore. In 2007-08, he averaged 19.6pts 5.1rb 4.5ast to help Boston attain the NBA's best record, and with the help of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, deliver the first Championship to the Celtics since 1986.  In the Finals, Pierce averaged 21.8pts 4.5rb 6.3ast, and played Kobe Bryant as well as anybody can play the regular season MVP.  And on June 17 2008, after a 39pt beatdown of the Lakers, no one in the green and white deserved to hold up that Larry O'Brien Trophy more.

After 22 years, this trophy carries with it a mountain of significance to every Celtic fan, former player, current player, and executive.  But most of all, Paul Pierce.  How many other superstars would've stayed with a "down in the dumps" franchise?  With this trophy he is vidicated.  He has shown that he belongs to be a part of this great franchise's lore.  That his contract extension was justified.  That Paul Pierce will not soon be forgotten.  That picking up that ball oh so long ago led him to this moment.  And that through all the ups and downs, he never wavered.  Kept his heart in the game, and kept his eye on the prize.  Now Paul, you can remove that chip on your shoulder, because you have done exactly what you said you were going to do.

When Pierce accepted his Finals MVP Trophy, he got up on a platform and yelled into the crowd, "I told y'all!  I told y'all!"  Yes, you did Paul.  And we all should have listened.