Paul Pierce has long memory - 波士頓塞爾提克 Boston Celtics

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Paul Pierce has long memory
By Mark Murphy

Like any athlete of his celebrated stature, Paul Pierce has enough
memorabilia to stock Christie’s Auction House.

像任何有明星地位的運動員，Paul Pierce已經有夠多東西可以放在佳士得拍賣行了。

But for now, the most important piece may also be the newest -- the game ball
from Game 7 against Cleveland.

但是現在，最重要的一件可能是最新的－對克里夫蘭第七戰的比賽用球。

Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck was so moved by Pierce’s 41-point performance,
and his legendary shootout with LeBron James, that the gesture didn’t just
sound good.

Celtics老闆 Wyc Grousbeck被Pierce 41分的表現所感動，他跟LeBron James的傳奇決
鬥，光是用手勢不夠好。

It had to be done.

必須要有所表示。

“I told him, ‘Thanks for sticking with us,’ and he said ‘Thanks for
sticking with me,’ ” Grousbeck said yesterday of a bond that has grown
stronger than ever with Pierce’s last two performances.

“我告訴他’謝謝你堅持跟我們在一起。’然後他說’謝謝你堅持在我身上。’ ”
Grousbeck昨天說，因為Pierce過去兩場的表現，他們之間有些日漸強壯的聯繫。

At a time when several national pundits -- including former players Magic
Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley -- questioned whether the Celtics had
someone capable of taking charge, Pierce attacked.

當幾個全國自命權威的球評－包括前球員Magic Johnson、Kenny Smith和Charles Barkley
－懷疑Celtics有沒有人有能力接管比賽，Pierce反擊了。

In the process, he became an inspiration.

在這個過程，他變成激勵大家的人。

“I look at what he’s done as vindication for our years of sticking by him,”
Grousbeck said. “From Day 1 I decided to stay by him, and I’m glad. His
jersey is supposed to hang in the rafters here some day, and that’s not going
to happen anywhere but here.”

“我看到他的作為，像是替我們堅持在他身上的辯護。”Grousbeck 說”從第一天我就
決定要留住他，而我很高興。他的球衣有一天應該要被掛在屋頂的天花板上，而這不應
該發生在別的地方，就是在這裡。”

Pierce, who only a year ago had mulled demanding a trade and who had seriously
envisioned life in another city, now sounds relieved.

Pierce在一年之前曾經仔細考慮要求交易，他曾經認真想像在別的城市生活，現在聽起
來鬆了一口氣。

Relieved that ownership and management didn’t pull the trigger.

鬆一口氣是因為管理階層和經理沒有扣下扳機。

“It’s a great feeling when you know you can come through for them,” Pierce
said. “In a lot of places the relationships between players (and management)
can fall apart. A lot of guys sign long-term deals and then everything goes
sour.

“當你知道可以跟他們溝通良好是種很棒的感覺。”Pierce說””在很多地方，球員 (
和總管)之間的關係是很失敗的。很多傢伙簽了長約，然後事情就變走味了。”

“I look at it this way -- I could be somewhere else, playing for a lottery
team with my career rotting away. That kind of thing happens all the time. But
once they did their part, it was time for me to do my part. It’s the both of
us doing our part that is making this work.”

“我用這種方式看待－我可能會在別的地方，替一支樂透區球隊打球到我的生涯爛掉。
這樣的事情總是在發生。但是一旦他們作好了自己的部分，就是我做好自己的部分的時
間了。是我們兩邊都作了自己的部分才有這個成功的。”

A darker thought also settled in for Pierce as the Cleveland series dragged on,
with the Celtics in real danger of not reaching the Eastern Conference finals.

當克里夫蘭系列不斷地拉長，Pierce 心中也有一點陰暗面，就是Celtics要進入東區決
賽真的有危險了。

He thought back to the team’s listless elimination by Indiana in the first
round of the 2005 playoffs.

他回想起2005年季後賽第一輪被印第安納無精打采地淘汰。

Pierce was at his petulant worst at the time, accented by his bizarre behavior
while getting ejected during a Game 6 win at Conseco Fieldhouse. The team
followed his lead in Game 7, going down without a fight in an emotionless loss
at home.

Pierce在那時莽莽撞撞地打的很差，第六戰在溜馬主場因為粗魯的行為被驅逐出場。球
隊在他領導下打到第七戰，但是在家沒什麼抵抗就冷漠地輸了球。

Pierce was jolted -- haunted -- by the thought of dropping another Game 7 in
front of a Garden crowd.

Pierce是很慌亂的－憂愁不堪的－擔心在花園觀眾面前又砸掉另一次第七戰。

“Truthfully, I think everything started for me in Game 7,” he said of last
Sunday’s win. “I had a lot of bad memories, and a bad taste in my mouth, from
that Game 7 against Indiana, and everything that happened in that series. I
didn’t want that happening again.

“說真的，我覺得在第七戰所有一切都回來了。”他說到上禮拜天的勝利。”我有很多
不好的回憶，我嘴巴裡有苦苦的滋味，因為對印第安納的第七戰，還有所有在那個系列
發生的事。我不想要它再發生一次。”

“So if I was going to go out, I was going to go out with guns blazing. It all
carried over from that series way back then.”

“所以如果我要打球，我就要站出去火力全開。那些從過去那個系列一直存在的事情。”

Pierce has never forgotten what he means to this team. But those memories from
2005 drove home the idea of who he is expected to be at the toughest moments.

Pierce從來沒有忘記他對這支球隊的意義。但是那些2005年以來的回憶，讓他對於在最
艱難的時刻，自己被期待作些什麼有了想法。

“When I’m aggressive, it loosens up the whole team,” he said.

“當我打出侵略性，會讓整支球隊解放開來。”他說。

This doesn’t merely apply to how he finishes at the rim. In addition to
setting a nice backdrop for Kevin Garnett’s 26-point performance with 22 of
his own, Pierce also had six assists, six rebounds and made one of his more
concerted efforts of the playoffs to get to the line in Tuesday’s series
-opening win against the Detroit Pistons.

這不僅僅在他攻擊籃框時適用。除了以自己的22分替Kevin Garnett的26分掩護，Pierce
還有六助攻六籃板，在禮拜二對上活塞的第一戰，也能維持一樣努力地進攻籃框。

“Paul’s just making plays now, and it’s freed him up,” said coach Doc
Rivers. “When you get to that point where he is now, you’re a pretty free
basketball player.

“Paul現在開始主動進攻，而這使他釋放活力。”Doc Rivers教練說。”當你達到他現
在的境界，你就能是個隨心所欲的籃球員。”

“He’s more aggressive because we’re putting him in those spots. He’s
getting better shots. Him and Ray (Allen) together have gone through that
stretch where they thought they have to get themselves going.

“他現在更加有侵略性，因為我們把他放在那些位置上。他的出手更好。他和Ray (Allen)
一起經歷這些，覺得要讓自己打出表現來。”

“But just making plays can make a big difference.”

“但是光是主動進攻就能帶來很大的不同。”

It’s not as simple as it sounds.

這不像聽起來這麼簡單。

But the Celtics captain is suddenly making the job look that way.

但是Celtics的隊長忽然讓這樣工作感覺起來很容易。

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