After spending most of his NBA playing career with the Boston Celtics, it was easy to expect that FS1 NBA analyst Paul Pierce would pick the Celtics to beat the New York Knicks and tie the series in their Game 2 matchup on Wednesday night. But the way he sounded this opinion publicly on Speak resulted in Pierce being the talk of the sports media world for all the wrong reasons.
On Wednesday’s edition of Speak, Pierce couldn’t have been more optimistic about the Celtics’ chances in Game 2, declaring that if the Celtics didn’t beat the Knicks in the game, he would walk to Thursday’s edition of Speak with a robe and no shoes on.
“If the Celtics lose Game 2 at home, I promise you, I’m walking here tomorrow,” said Pierce. “I’m walking here, 15 miles. I’m walking here, in my robe, no shoes on, bare feet. I’m walking. I’m telling you right now, I’m taking this serious. I’m gonna be up at three. I guarantee this one. Put the house on this game. Put the house on it. No shot we lose. You got a better chance at walking out of this studio and seeing a dinosaur than seeing the Celtics losing.”
Unfortunately for Pierce, Game 2 of the series went nearly identically to Game 1 of the series, where the Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit to defeat the Celtics in overtime. Except this time, the Knicks didn’t even need an overtime period to erase the exact same deficit.
Instead, it was an eight-minute drought in the fourth quarter where the Celtics failed to make a single shot from the field, which fueled a 21-4 run from the Knicks to come away with a 91-90 victory.
For the second straight game, Mikal Bridges saved the day on defense for the Knicks, coming away with another steal on the final Celtics possession to seal the win.
For the Celtics, it was a harrowing case of deja vu. As for Pierce, he was served a piece of humble pie by his peers, getting mocked relentlessly by many of his FS1 colleagues and a significant portion of his peers in sports media for his overconfidence in his former team.
“Better get to walking!!” wrote Pierce’s cohost on Speak, Keyshawn Johnson.
“Walking to work, barefoot, in a robe,” wrote Ric Bucher, another of Pierce’s FS1 colleagues.
“Start a walkin’!” wrote Joe Cowley, a columnist who covers the Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Sun-Times.
“This aged so terribly,” wrote ESPN host Skubie Mageza.
“Uh, Paul. There’s a T-Rex at your door who would like a word,” wrote John Rooke of the Providence Journal.
Only time will tell whether Pierce will ultimately be walking to Speak on Thursday morning, which by his own accord would be around an eight-hour venture.
But he did at least acknowledge in a post on X that he is well aware that his “guarantee” had gone horribly wrong.