Former Boston Celtics superstar Paul Pierce ended his feud with former teammate Ray Allen during their meeting in Shanghai, China recently. The two met when they served as coaches in the Super Penguin Basketball Celebrity Game. Pierce posted their photo of him and Allen with the caption “time to get the band back together. He also tagged former teammates, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo, telling them “no matter what happens we all formed a special bond that can never b broken.” He accompanied the photo with hashtags #burythehatchet and #onceacelticalwaysaceltic.
Pierce recently signed a one-day contract with Boston to retire as a Celtic. The Celtics will retire his No. 34 jersey in a ceremony on February 11, 2018. Pierce spent 15 of his 19-year NBA career with the Celtics. He also suited for two years with the Los Angeles Clippers and one season each with the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards. Allen, for his part, officially announced his retirement last year.
Celtics won 2008 title with four superstars
The four carried the Celtics to the NBA title in 2008, but Allen sparked a feud with Pierce, Rondo, and Garnett when he left Boston and signed with bitter rival Miami Heat in 2012. Allen won the NBA title with the Heat that year while the Celtics traded Garnett and Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013.
The Celtics parted ways with Rondo in 2014, trading him to the Dallas Mavericks. In 2012, Garnett declared that he doesn’t have Allen’s number anymore because he’s “not trying to communicate with him.” Garnett also ignored Allen when the latter approached the Celtics bench in his first game with the Heat.
Allen not invited to 2008 Celtics reunion
Allen was not invited when Garnett hosted a reunion of the 2008 Celtics on TNT earlier this year. During the show, Pierce admitted that he has no beef with teammates, but he didn’t like how things went down with Allen. “I thought we formed a brotherhood here in Boston. That's what I was hurt about when Ray didn't at least give us a heads up about it,” Pierce explained.
Garnett, for his part, said when the reunion was planned, they looked at guys that we consider loyal and part of this group. “When Ray decided to go to the Heat, I feel like he moved on,” said Garnett. A day after the reunion, Allen took a subtle jab on his Facebook account, posting a photo of him wearing a Heat uniform and fighting through defense from Rondo with a caption: "The power to push limits.” Later, Allen’s publicist announced that the sharpshooter’s Facebook page was hacked.
