This is why they got him here, not just to show them what it takes to slay the fire-breathing dragon, but to tell them.
Paul Pierce is Tug McGraw rallying the Mets with Ya Gotta Believe, he is Michael Strahan marching up and down the sidelines before Eli Manning, the Giants down 14-10, matching down to win Super Bowl XLII shouting, “the final score will be 17-14. You’ve got to believe it.”
“A lot of series are won on fear factor, or non-belief,” Pierce was saying Sunday following the Nets’ practice for Game 4 Monday night against LeBron and the Heat.
“And when you have that non-belief, then you have no chance. What I try to do in this locker room, and with my teammates, is just try to give ’em belief, that we can beat this team. They’re not unbeatable. You gotta have that mental if you’re trying to get over that mountain that you’re trying to climb.”
It may be Mount Everest, but Pierce didn’t come here with Kevin Garnett not to try to climb it.
“The Heat, they’re a different team in the playoffs,” Pierce said, “but we’re a different team also.”
He can’t possibly know that for sure right now, not after winning his first playoff game as a Net, not with LeBron chasing a threeHeat and looking as hungry for a third ring as he was his first.
“They know how to win,” Pierce said. “They’ve won two championships. There’s nothing they haven’t been through.
“One thing you always hear, it’s kinda cliche, you know – – it’s ‘never underestimate the heart of a champion,’ and you know that’s what they have under their belt. They’re The Team to Beat.”
This is why they got him here, to remind his team that just because you won Game 3 doesn’t mean you are entitled to a Canyon of Heroes parade. The playoff roller coaster will only make you sick.
“Just being able to overcome the mental highs and lows,” Pierce said. “That’s one thing about the playoffs. You go through so many lows after losing a couple of games, and highs when you’re winning. At this point, I just try to keep an even keel, ’cause it can emotionally drain you, or you can get too overexcited. And that’s what I try to bring to the lockerroom at this point. . .
“We got a long journey ahead and we’re trying to accomplish our goal. We can’t get too excited, and we can’t get too down at this point. We gotta expect it to be a long run, and continue to get better.”
For the Nets, this really isn’t Game 4. Just as Game 3 really wasn’t Game 3.
“Every game has to be treated like a Game 7,” Pierce said. “We’re playing for our playoff lives and we gotta be in that desperate mode, ’cause when we play like that, we’re at our best.”
They’re also at their best when Pierce guards his longtime nemesis. You want an example of leadership?
Try this:
“I went to J Kidd and said, ‘I want that assignment,'” Pierce said. “I think I’ve guarded him more than anybody in this gym. . .I don’t have the offensive load that I had in the past where I was having to carry us all the way offensively and then take the best defensive assignment.”
The Nets cannot count on hitting 15 3s again in Game 4. But they’ve found a formula that works: help defense, no EZ Pass in the lane for LeBron, moving and sharing the ball. . .and play to win.
“I think we gotta make the extra passes,” Pierce said. “We gotta be aggressive in whatever we do. Our 3s were falling (Saturday), but who knows?, they may not fall
(Monday). So we gotta be aggressive when we move the ball, make the extra passes, and drive the ball. Whatever we do, whether it’s shooting the 3s, or getting to the line, we gotta be aggressive. You gotta move the ball, you can’t beat ’em with just one player, and it’s gotta be a team.”
It’s gotta be a team that believes.
That has no fear.
That isn’t afraid to shout out loud: Bring On LeBron!
“There could be a fear factor,” Kidd said, “but we have some older guys that, to a fault, understand what fear is. But then also getting the rest of the team to believe in that too.”
Ain’t that The Truth.