Dime’s 1-On-1 NBA Tournament: LeBron James Vs. Paul Pierce

THE RULES

LeBron James and Paul Pierce are rivals.

This is what a Celtics fan uttered to me the other day. My gut reaction compelled me to intensely berate him. You know when a friend refuses to alter his mind-boggling stance on a sports issue? And you know how that causes you to abandon any sliver of respect you had saved for him? That’s how I felt. James and Pierce aren’t even on the same stratosphere. Derrick Rose is a rival to James. Dwight Howard is a rival. Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire are rivals. But not Pierce. The rival, really, is the Boston Celtics. Take away any three of the Big Four and each individual would drag his team to a 30-52 record and the prayer position during the draft lottery.

After a few more minutes of me yelling some form of “you’re an idiot” in less than kosher ways, I took a step back. What if I rethought my initial stance that rivals possess equal levels of talent? LeBron and Pierce have already dueled on the Game 7 stage (Pierce won). LeBron copied the Celtic method and applied it to Miami. He had an emotional breakdown after advancing to the conference finals by defeating Boston. He’s constantly struggling to receive that late-game luster with which we have already blessed Pierce.

The two stars are the A-Rod (pre-Yankees) and Jeter of basketball. No matter what A-Rod did, he couldn’t touch Jeter’s October reputation or heart and soul demeanor. With Jeter, you get what you see – a team player, hard worker, preeminent symbol of the game. A-Rod, meanwhile, was a brand imitator. He wanted the Jeter image without the Jeter work ethic. He’ll always be considered the better player, but Jeter will always be the locker room leader.

LeBron has all the talent and then some. But he’ll always be chasing Pierce. He’ll be chasing the man that we perpetually distrust. That, in some way, is part of Pierce’s lore. The second we begin to think that he’s hit his final career descent, he’ll bust out a 35-point game and a last-second dagger. 80% of our brain know he’s great, but the other 20% can’t get over the fact that there’s just something off about him. He’s slow and seemingly fat. The ball rotates awkwardly on his jumper. So we doubt, we poke holes, we do anything to ignore reality. And just when that 20% begins to take over, it happens: Pierce reminds us why he may just end up in the Hall of Fame.

And that’s the rivalry – one man making the most of what he has, and one man trying to change who he is. If there’s anyone LeBron wants to conquer on Boston, it’s Pierce. He has the missing intangible parts and the love and respect of the basketball world. But that’s probably why The Truth derives so much satisfaction from watching LeBron go title-less with each passing season. His superior talent should equal greater on-the-court success, but LeBron just can’t seem to put it all together. So that’s why this one-on-one matchup intrigues me – there’s something more than pride at stake and the result is far from certain.

Will Pierce reach deep into his bag of tricks and makes us believers all over again?

Follow Dylan on Twitter at @DylanBotB.

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