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Audio By Carbonatix
Paul Pierce was very confident the Celtics would be able to even up their series against the Knicks to the point where he pledged to walk from his home to the FS1 studio in Los Angeles if they lost Game 2. Unfortunately, Boston blew a massive lead en route to falling into a 2-0 hole, and was forced to follow through on that promise.
The Celtics headed into their second-round showdown with the Knicks as the overwhelming favorite to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals, and they had home-court advantage on their side when the series kicked off on Monday.
Unfortunately, they squandered that edge by blowing a 20-point lead in a contest where they missed more three-pointers than any other team in the history of the NBA Playoffs by bricking 45 shots from behind the arc as New York got the 108-105 victory in overtime.
Boston was hoping to bounce back when Game 2 transpired at TD Garden on Wednesday night, and prior to the contest, Paul Pierce made it clear he was confident his former team was going to be able to get the win while previewing the matchup on FS1 and promising to walk to work on Thursday if they weren’t able to do so.
It initially looked like Pierce wouldn’t have to worry about making the trek when you consider the Celtics were up 20 points with a little over two minutes to go in the third quarter. However, they choked things away yet again (thanks in no small part to another abysmal shooting performance from long range) as the Knicks staged a comeback to take a 2-0 lead with the 91-90 victory.
Pierce responded to that development on Wednesday night by sharing a screenshot of what is actually a 20-mile trek from his house to the studio, which Google Maps estimated would take him eight hours to complete.
Based on the videos he’s started sharing on Instagram on Thursday, he got up before the crack of dawn in order to complete the journey while clad in his robe, saying he’ll be posting hourly updates until he gets to his destination.
Paul Pierce actually walking to work at FS1 after saying he’d do it if Celtics lost Game 2 lmao pic.twitter.com/3I6NxEm9Un
— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) May 8, 2025
It doesn’t appear he followed through with the promise to do the walk barefoot, but I think he gets a pass for that.