Pierce's wait is finally over - 波士頓塞爾提克 Boston Celtics

Pierce's wait is finally over By Michael Vega / May 31, 2008

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/05/31/pierces_wa
it_is_finally_over/ ( http://tinyurl.com/5jxqwz )

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - When it was all over, and the Celtics had earned their
first trip to the NBA Finals since 1987, Paul Pierce made his way to the
Celtics'bench and extended his hand to Doc Rivers.

當一切都結束，而塞爾蒂克贏得他們自1987年來第一次打入總冠軍時，PP穿過人群走到板
凳區，對Rivers伸出手來。

But Rivers wasn't having any of that.

但Rivers沒有這麼做（伸出手來）。

The Celtics coach reached out with his hand and cupped Pierce's head. He
wanted to cup Pierce's heart, too, but that would have required more than one
pair of hands, given its enormity in these three tough playoff rounds,
culminating with last night's 89-81 victory over the Pistons in Game 6 of the
Eastern Conference finals.

這位塞爾蒂克的教練用手緊抱著PP的頭。他也想同時緊抱著PP的胸口，只恨自己沒多生一
雙手。此刻，擁抱代表著他們在第六戰以89比81擊敗活塞，贏得東區王座，完成了這異常
艱辛的三個系列賽。

Who could forget the way he took over with 22 points in a Game 7 triumph the
top-seeded Celtics needed to have against the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks? Or
the tour de force 41-point performance he submitted in a shootout against
LeBron James (45 points) in Game 7 against the Cavaliers?

誰會忘記PP在首輪第七戰對上老鷹砍下22分的演出？誰會忘記他在第二輪第七戰對上騎士
時，與LeBron James（45分）互尬槍戰 XD ，巧取豪奪41分的傑作？

Facing a 10-point deficit with 10:29 left in Game 6 last night, Pierce
delivered once again, taking over the game and scoring 12 of his team-high
27 points in the last 7:35.

第六戰，在比賽只剩10分29秒，面對落後的10分，PP又再度跳出來接管了比賽，他在剩下
的 7分35秒內砍下了他全隊最高27分中的12分。

"I just wanted to try and impose my will," Pierce said. "Just being in that
position six years ago [in the Eastern Conference finals against the New
Jersey Nets] and letting it slip away, I didn't want it to slip away again."

PP說：「我只是考驗和挑起我的決心。六年前在東區決賽對上籃網時我讓機會溜走了，我
不想再次讓它溜走。」

And so, in a poignant moment that played out in front of the scorer's table
at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Rivers threw his arms around Pierce and shared
a hearty hug. The men giddily bounced, thrilled not so much by the fact this
victory had propelled the Celtics to the Finals, but by how far their
relationship as player and coach had come.

因為這樣，Rivers才會在奧本山宮殿的計分台前張開雙臂給了PP一個熱烈的擁抱。Rivers
沒有因這個帶他們打進總冠軍站的勝利太過激動，也沒輕浮地蹦蹦跳跳，然而這就是他們
的師徒之情。

"I just pretty much said to Doc, 'Thanks for sticking with me,' " Pierce
said. "We definitely had our ups and downs as a player and coach in the
beginning, but he could have easily went to management and said, 'Aw, I don't
want this knucklehead,' but he didn't. He stuck it out with me."

「我差不多就對教頭說了這些：『謝謝你陪在我身邊。』」PP說：「在一開始時，我們沉
浮了一陣子，他其實可以以很簡單的方式管理，並且說：『喲，我不想要這些呆子。』但
他沒有。他依然陪我走下去。」

But Rivers didn't necessarily see it that way.

但是Rivers想到那兒去了。

"He said he loved me," Rivers said. "And then he said, 'Thank you for
sticking with me,' and I was thinking, 'Me with you?' I was thinking the
other way around. It meant a lot, obviously, but we're going to enjoy this."

「他說他愛我，」Rivers說。「他接著說：『謝謝你陪在我身邊。』我當時就在想：『我
和你嗎？』我想到那方面去了。這句話明顯有很多的涵義，但我們都很享受這種感覺。」

Pierce whooped it up with his teammates, donning a black Eastern Conference
champions cap and mugging it up in the Celtics' locker room, where he was
congratulated by none other than John Havlicek, who helped the Celtics hang
at least half of their 16 NBA championship banners and presented the team
with the gleaming silver basketball as conference champs.

PP與他的隊友們開心地嘶吼著，他無法壓抑內心的狂喜，他們在更衣室裡帶上黑色的東區
冠軍帽並且大做鬼臉。而PP也在此接受 John Havlicek（哈維奇克）的恭賀。

Pierce, a native of Inglewood, Calif., even started chants of "Beat LA! Beat
LA!"

即使PP出身於加州英格塢（加州洛杉磯西南方一郊區），他也哼著「Beat LA! Beat LA!」
的小調。

"As a kid, I hated the Celtics," Pierce said with a laugh. "I'm going back
home to play my team that I grew up watching. It's a dream come true, man,
just thinking about it. I think that [Boston-LA] rivalry revolutionized the
game of basketball and now I'm part of it."

「當我是小孩時，我恨透了塞爾蒂克，」PP大笑著說。「我將回到我的家鄉並和兒時崇拜
的球隊對戰。這就是夢想成真吧！我想波士頓 vs.洛杉磯的對決使籃球比賽進化了，而我
現在也成了它的一部份。」

Pierce made certain of that by keeping his composure when he needed to most -
at the end of the third quarter.

That's when referee Bennett Salvatore waved off a contested 3-pointer Pierce
had hoisted over Richard Hamilton, inducing him to leave his feet with a ball
fake. Pierce, however, was charged with an offensive foul for creating the
contact with Hamilton.

PP以鎮靜沈著當後盾，這讓他在第三節時確信自己一定辦的到－－這經典對決的重現。那
時正是PP以假動作騙起RIP，使他雙腳移動。然而裁判 Bennett Salvatore認為PP和RIP有
身體接觸，PP吃了一記進攻犯規。

In another time, Pierce said he might have imploded. But he exploded.

"I was a little upset at the call, but, hey, I knew that things wouldn't go
our way being that we were on the road and trying to go to the NBA Finals,"
Pierce said. "I didn't expect calls tonight. My whole mind-set going in there
was if they made a bad call on me, I was just going to suck it up and try to
get it back. So just going into the game mentally, after watching the
Spurs-Lakers game, it seemed like, hey, they let them play for the most part,
and that's just fine with me.

PP說他當時可能會爆發，但他選擇分數上的爆發。「我對當時的判決有點不爽，但，嘿，
我知道這不會遮蓋了我們朝總冠軍戰的道路，」PP說。「我不期待今晚的哨子。我準備好
他們對我做什麼，我就用什麼回敬他們。我只是精神上完全投入比賽，在看完馬刺對湖人
的比賽後，這就好像是，嘿，他們讓自己火力全開，而我也該如此。」

"That was my mind-set going into the game," he added. "I didn't let it
frustrate me, like probably in the past. I probably would have lost my cool,
lost my poise, got a technical. But that would have been selfish of me and
taken away from the team. So I just wanted to brush it off and just keep
playing."

「我的心智完全投入比賽，」PP補充道。「我不會讓吹判阻撓我，像是比賽後段時。我有
可能失去冷靜，失去鎮定，被吹Ｔ。但這就是代表我自私，並且脫離團隊。所以我就不理
睬它，就讓自己沉浸在比賽中。」

He went to the line for a pair of foul shots that would have given the
Celtics a 1-point lead, but after missing the first, he made the second to
tie it, 70-70, after craftily inducing Jason Maxiell to commit a foul that
put the Pistons over the limit.

在 Maxiell狡猾地犯規後，PP站上罰球線並有兩罰的機會可使超賽取得一分領先，但在第
一罰沒進後，他進了第二罰取得70比70平手。

He contorted his body on a lane spin job that induced Rodney Stuckey to
commit his first personal and tacked on the foul shot to give the Celtics a
73-72 (打錯，應該是75-74) lead. On the Celtics' next possession, Pierce nailed
a clutch jumper from the corner for a 77-74 lead and followed with a pair of
foul shots that made it 79-77 and capped a 7-point tear.

（應該是指第四節剩5:25，落後兩分時）PP扭曲身體轉身穿過僅存的夾縫，引誘 Stuckey
企圖轉變他方向的第一犯，進算加罰，超賽取得75比74領先。在超賽的下個進攻權，PP在
角落跳投命中，77-74；之後又取得兩罰機會，使超賽取得79-77領先，並稍後拉開了七分
差距。

"Paul's been through so much, on and off the floor," Rivers said. "I think we
were talking about this, the fact that he stayed in the times when all the
stars, when their teams get bad, they want to bail, they want to get traded,
but Paul reupped. He stayed with us.

「PP整場比賽跳上跳下的，」Rivers說道。「我覺得我們是在說這個吧，事實是他留在隊
裡，當球隊都是明星時，當球隊是爛隊時，有球員想脫離這個球隊，他們想被交易出去，
但PP還在這兒。他留在我們身邊。」

"To me that means a lot, and I said that when he did it," Rivers added. "So
he deserves this."

That and a hug from the coach.

「對我而言這意義重大，因此在他達到此刻的同時我會說，」Rivers補充。「他理應得到
這個（我猜是指榮耀與成就）。」

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