February 7, 2012

The pressure was quite clear to Pierce and anyone else in the
arena as he stood on the verge of passing Larry Bird for No. 2 on
Boston's career scoring list. He needed only 10 points to overtake
Bird when the Celtics hosted Charlotte on Tuesday night and those
final three seemed as if they would never come.
They did early in the third quarter, then Pierce and the Celtics
celebrated the milestone by increasing their season-best winning
streak to five with a 94-84 win over the Bobcats.
"It was a relief. So much was hanging over me the last couple
of days. Just hearing about it and knowing that you've got a game
to play," said Pierce, who finished with 15 points. "Just to be
mentioned with him, with this organization, is a great honor."
Pierce now stands alone at No. 2 -- and it is quite a list -- with
21,797 points, six more than Bird's total of 21,791. Only John
Havlicek has scored more in team history with 26,395 points.
Pierce didn't even try to calculate the gap or how long it could
take him to reach Havlicek.
"I think the fans would really appreciate another championship
more than me passing Hondo," Pierce said.
Pierce nearly celebrated with a triple-double, coming up just
short with nine assists and eight rebounds.