“I'm a changed man now”


Kendrick Perkins hilariously reacted to Paul Pierce's thoughts about him facing Shaquille O'Neal at the time. Pierce and Perkins' Boston Celtics faced O'Neal's Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA Playoffs in 2010. This was the year before LeBron James moved to Miami and O'Neal decided to leave.

Their series against each other was tough, given how the two teams continued to trade blows. In the first four games, the series was tied 2-2, neither team showing weakness. However, Pierce remembered what motivated the Celtics to win their series against Cleveland.

Paul Pierce shared that his former Boston teammate, Kendrick Perkins, once confronted Shaquille O'Neal, a situation never seen before. Most NBA players feared Shaq because of his size and dominance on the court. However, Perkins did not back down from O'Neal's intimidating presence and even had a heated argument with the big man.

“(Kendrick Perkins) got in Shaq's face like, 'I'd beat your ass**,'' Pierce shared. “I've never seen anybody go up against Shaq. That gave me confidence like we're going to call them… If it doesn't hurt, we win 2 rings.”

Perkins caught wind of Pierce's comments about him and gave a humorous response on social media:

“I'm a changed man now 😂,” Perkins wrote to X.

Paul Pierce reveals why it hurt when his former Celtics teammate teamed up with LeBron James

When Paul Pierce was part of the Big Three of the Boston Celtics, including Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, they had fierce feuds with LeBron James, who was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time. If there was anyone who could stop Pierce and the Celtics from reaching the NBA Finals, it was LeBron.

However, in 2012, Allen did the unthinkable and joined forces with James, who was with the Miami Heat at the time. It was a slap in the face for Pierce and Garnett, not because Allen left, but because their former teammate decided to team up with the player they despised playing against the Eastern Conference.

“It was absolutely where it went,” Pierce told Shannon Sharpe on 'Club Shay Shay.' “You've got to understand, we've been battling LeBron for the last four or five years. … The Heat aren't our rival, it's LeBron. He's our rival. So, as a man, we played them in the playoffs a year ago, you can't go play them.”

Although this soured their brotherhood during that time, they eventually called things off in 2017.