Paul Pierce on what set up 2008 Celtics for their title run: "First team versus second team was like a battle every single day"

Paul Pierce on what set up 2008 Celtics for their title run: “First team versus second team was like a battle every single day” originally appeared on Basketball Network.

During a recent appearance on “Games With Names,” Paul Pierce took a deep dive into the Boston Celtics’ 2007-08 championship-winning season. But rather than reliving the title — the only one of his storied Hall of Fame career — he focused on what had laid the groundwork for it.

According to Pierce, the foundation was multifaceted, and much of it, he explained, was hidden from the spotlight nearly a year before the Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2 in the 2008 NBA Finals.

Celtics in Italy

While most head to Rome for sun, food and culture, the Celtics, in summer 2007, went to Italy’s capital with a different goal: preparing for the new NBA season.

As Pierce recalled, coming off a disappointing year without playoff basketball, he and his teammates were highly motivated. During that period, they squared off in Boston pickup games, and that same fire followed them overseas. It showed.

The Truth, who was poised to enter his ninth season, said it became one of the “most intense” training camps he had ever been part of.

“First team versus second team was a battle every single day. I’m talking trash-talking. You talking about dogs — our young squad were dogs. When you talk about Eddie House, [James] Posey, Leon Powe… they weren’t playing around,” the 10-time All-Star noted.

Even though the roster, led by him, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, battled fiercely on the court every day, Pierce recalled they were “bonding” whenever downtime hit.

“We’d just be hanging out in the lobby, at the restaurant, or outside eating, playing cards together, or going for walks,” he said, especially remembering a visit to the iconic 18th-century Trevi Fountain, where he tossed in a few cents for luck.

That luck proved prescient. Less than a year later, with the 6’7″ swingman crowned Finals MVP, the franchise ended a 22-year title drought.

The blueprint for dominance

It’s often said that success doesn’t happen overnight — or, more fittingly in this case, that Rome wasn’t built in a day. That couldn’t ring truer for the 2007–08 Celtics under head coach Doc Rivers, who spent that summer, during and after training camp, forging the habits that would carry them to league dominance.

Pierce, who visited Rome three times, said those habits showed not only in their intensity during practice but also in each player’s relentless defense. As he recalled, it was a motto The Big Ticket had introduced.

Garnett was tense, intense, and impossible to ignore, Pierce recalled, noting that if teammates weren’t defending, the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year would confront them, sweating, talking, sometimes even spitting, forcing everyone to match his effort. Pierce admitted it could “hurt some feelings,” but it was exactly what the roster, which posted a dominant 66-16 record, needed.

Ultimately, that Celtics team thrived on intensity, camaraderie, and defensive rigor — a blueprint laid long before they reaped the rewards. It’s a lesson for any NBA side aiming to forge a similar identity: the work has to start well before opening night.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 21, 2025, where it first appeared.

Paul Pierce on what set up 2008 Celtics for their title run: “First team versus second team was like a battle every single day”

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