Paul Pierce shared a childhood experience that helped him mold his game, during an interview with Ryan Hollins and Brendan Haywood on “Opinionated 7-Footers” podcast.
The Celtics’ legend talked on the way he molded his game as a grind-out star in his NBA career. This attitude resulted in an NBA championship with the Celtics.
(via USA Today Sports):
“There’s this park in Inglewood,” Pierce said. “It’s in the cut, called Ash Park. I lived in these apartments, and I used to go there like every Saturday. And all they have up there was Mexicans, right? So that’s all that was up there, and they used to play ball. So I started playing with them. And all they did was foul.”
“Always go up there and get fouled, get fouled and I’ve got to be tough. I said ‘I’m going to just go up here every Saturday.’’
“When I look back at all that, all that kind of like molded me into this just grind-it-out type of player, going through the hood, playing against the hood, against the gangsters,” added The Truth.
During the podcast, Pierce is describing his time in Kansas, the big-three era of the Boston Celtics and his early years in the league.
