Paul Pierce Left Visibly Stunned as Kawhi Leonard’s Iconic Game-Winner Gets Undermined

“Biggest shot in Raptors history,” wrote Jamal Crawford after witnessing Kawhi Leonard‘s miraculous shot at the buzzer to win the Eastern Conference Semis in 2019 on their way to the championship. The fact that it had almost everyone in the NBA community, including the likes of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, stunned, speaks volumes about the importance of that shot. Heck, it even had Kawhi “Terminator” Leonard losing his mind over it. How often have we seen that, if ever? So when that shot was somehow discredited, NBA legend Paul Pierce was understandably left dumbfounded.

Jason Crowe, on an episode of The Truth Lounge, said “Kawhi’s shot was, you know what I mean, kind of considered a lucky shot, though.” However, after watching Paul Pierce’s expression of disbelief at the statement, Crowe backed his claim. He stated the shot touched every part of the rim. As mentioned earlier, the shot held significant importance as it not only won them the game but also won them the series.

It is also worth mentioning that this buzzer-beater was a fadeaway shot. So it is understandable that Paul Pierce was not able to digest the shot being credited to mere luck. “Like you act like you can’t shoot… you act like he wasn’t killing that game… that’s a lucky shot?… So my bank shot was luck too, right? That was luck. Like I never did that,” the 46-year-old asked Jason, to which he replied with a hilarious “Yeah”.

Both of them burst into laughter at Crowe’s response. But Paul could not resist responding with a “M*****f****r” in another moment of disbelief. The bank shot he mentioned was a game-winning buzzer-beater during his days in Washington against the Atlanta Hawks in the Playoffs. Both teams were tied at 101 when Pierce made the shot with a step-back jumper, banking it in.

This can be perceived as another explanation for the ex-Wizards player being able to relate to Leonard’s stunning buzzer-beater. And not just him, the whole NBA community was full of praise for possibly the biggest shot in recent history.

More opinions from the NBA community about Kawhi Leonard’s game-winning buzzer-beater

In an interview with ESPN, Leonard had himself termed the shot as a blessing. “That’s something I never experienced before—Game 7, winning shot. It’s a blessing to get to that point and make that shot and feel that moment and it’s something I can look back on in my career.” 

In an interview with Megan Rapinoe in 2020, Jimmy Butler, who was on the 76ers roster at the time, recollected his memory of the iconic buzzer. “F*ck…when it hit the rim I was underneath it… and I was like, this sh*t going in,” he stated. However, he denied crying over it later on. Butler faced this question as Joel Embiid was seen as visibly emotional after the game in the dressing room. Notably, it was Embiid who had jumped out to defend Kawhi’s fadeaway shot.   

The shot was such a tricky one that Kawhi’s ex-teammate Danny Green recalled it being like a moment from a movie. He stated that even watching today, the clip of the shot seems to be 10 seconds long.

“When he took that shot, I thought it was the worst shot… The way he shot it, I thought it was angling left, and I’m right there on the bench. I was like, ‘He bout to miss that.’ It bounced on the rim, I was like. ‘Oh, sh*t, it hit the back of the rim, like this got a chance.’ And we were like, ‘Drop m*****f***er,” he had stated, appearing on ‘Run Your Race’ podcast. Lucky or not, it is surely one of the biggest moments in NBA history.

Read More: Relive When Buzzer Beater by Kawhi Leonard Changed the Toronto Raptors Legacy