BOSTON — The silence was so eerie in the home arena of the Boston Celtics that you could almost hear the stirring of basketball ghosts.
On the famous parquet floor, Boston star Paul Pierce did not budge. In obvious pain, he grabbed at his knee. Beneath their “Gotta Beat L.A.” T-shirts, Celtics fans felt hearts skip a collective beat.
Could Pierce get up?
Were the Celtics down and out in Game 1 of the NBA Finals?
Was this dream championship matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers about to turn into Beantown’s worst nightmare?
“I thought that was it,” Pierce admitted.
In a rousing 98-88 victory against Los Angeles on Thursday night, Boston answered every doubt, put down all its fears and woke up the echoes of legends made by every hero, from Bob Cousy to Larry Bird, who has worn the famous Celtics uniform through the years.
And the hero was Pierce, who not only returned to the game but finished with 22 points, which included the tough jumpers that shot down the Lakers.
What allowed the Celtics to live to tell another legendary tale? Maybe we should credit the luck of the shamrock. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to salute the grit of a pro athlete who had waited 10 years to make his first appearance in the league’s championship round.
“It can’t be over like this,” Pierce said as he left the floor in the second half. “You know, I think God just sent this angel down and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be all right.’ ”
Four years ago, when Doc Rivers agreed to take the same seat on the Boston bench once warmed by Celtics legend Red Auerbach, friends in the business all told him the same thing.
You must be crazy, Doc.
“When I took the job,” Rivers recalled, “a lot of coaches called me and said, ‘Wow, why would you go there when you’ve got to deal with Bird and Cousy and everybody else?’ ”
As if winning in the NBA is not tough enough, the coach of the Celtics must also take on the ghosts of the most-storied franchise in pro basketball history.
“I’ve always embraced it,” said Rivers, who has written all living Celtics alums, asking them all to drop by practice or games to lend their aura whenever the spirit moves them. “I think it’s something you can use as an asset, not something that should drag you down.”
With Pierce in distress as he was carried away to the Boston dressing room to have his aching knee inspected after a collision with teammate Kendrick Perkins, the Celtics trailed 62-58 in the third period.
“When I first fell to the ground, I heard a pop in my knee, and all I felt was pain when I grabbed it,” Pierce said. “And at that point I thought . . . I tore something. Usually, when I go down, I’m getting right back up. But it was an instance where I turned my knee and it popped, heard it pop, and I was just in pain where I couldn’t move.”
But that’s when Rivers created a memory that would make the late, great Auerbach so proud that he probably asked St. Peter if it was OK to light up a cigar in heaven.
Not sure if he would have Pierce again in Game 1 or the championship series, Rivers gathered his players in the huddle and loudly declared, “Nothing stops us!”
The Celtics promptly responded with a 9-2 run that incited a raucous home crowd all the more because Pierce walked to the bench and checked back in the game during the middle of what proved to be a decisive stretch of inspired basketball by Boston.
And the biggest plays were made by Pierce. On consecutive possessions by the Celtics, he splashed jumpers from 3-pointers range to put Boston ahead 75-71 late in the third period.
The heroics of Pierce caused the Lakers to lose any appetite for mounting a comeback, especially because L.A. star Kobe Bryant was suffering through a poor night of shooting, needing 26 field-goal attempts to score 24 points.
Spectators that had feared Pierce might be done for the playoffs were invoking the name of former New York Knicks center Willis Reed, the most notable wounded warrior in NBA playoff history.
When Pierce returned the floor, did the Celtics become invincible? “I think that’s overstated,” L.A. coach Phil Jackson said.
But here’s the truth: In the most anticipated NBA Finals since the great battles between the Lakers and Celtics during the 1980s, Pierce created a classic guaranteed to endure the test of time.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
