{"id":114136,"date":"2025-09-02T12:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T12:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114136\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T12:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T12:06:13","slug":"i-had-to-test-paul-pierce-says-he-pushed-lebron-james-over-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/114136\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I had to test’… Paul Pierce says he ‘pushed’ LeBron James ‘over the top’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lebron James had a plethora of memorable battles during the NBA playoffs over the course of his career.<\/p>\n

Considering LeBron James<\/a> stayed in the Eastern Conference<\/a> for the majority of his career, it\u2019s no surprise that he built rivalries there.<\/p>\n

During his stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> and Miami Heat<\/a>, James\u2019 biggest rivalry was arguably against the Paul Pierce<\/a>-led Boston Celtics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BostonPhoto by Barry Chin\/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesPaul Pierce reveals when LeBron James took the \u2018next step\u2019<\/p>\n

While the James-led Cavaliers were hardly a match for the dominant Celtics teams of the 2000s, the same cannot be said for the Heat rosters.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, Pierce recently revisited the Heat vs. Celtics matchup during the 2012 NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a couple like playoff battles with Bron and he really brought out the best of me. But I will say, I brought out the best out of him too,\u201d Pierce said on The Schoma.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhen he came to Boston, Game 6, I think it was in 2012, and he gave me the 40-something piece, because I was about to go back to the Finals, he played the game of his life, and I was like respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when he took the next step because I know I pushed him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics and Heat met during the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Despite taking a 2-0 lead in the series, James and Co. then lost the next three games.<\/p>\n

Evidently, they faced elimination in Game 6, but LBJ carried the Heat on his back by dropping 45 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists.<\/p>\n

Overall, the King averaged 33.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. Pierce believes that the series helped LBJ take the next step in his career.<\/p>\n

How Paul Pierce tested LeBron James<\/p>\n

James would eventually go on to win the 2012 and 2013 NBA Championships with the Heat. On the other hand, the C\u2019s core got older<\/a>, with Pierce getting traded to the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> in 2013.<\/p>\n

Although Pierce was out of his prime, he firmly believes James became a GOAT candidate<\/a> because of their battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was one of them ones, but I was an old dude at that time. And I helped him get over the top, because I had to test his mental, his physical, and that\u2019s why he\u2019s one of the GOATs,\u201d Pierce proudly stated.<\/p>\n

Today, Pierce has turned to being an analyst. James continues to dominate the NBA as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Considering the Lakers star will turn 41 in 2025, it\u2019s fair to say he\u2019s in the twilight years of his NBA career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lebron James had a plethora of memorable battles during the NBA playoffs over the course of his career.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[1222,49,48,23934,2327,8231,459,64256,82,10627],"class_list":["post-114136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-eastern-conference","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-paul-pierce","tag-sports","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}