Ray Allen has a tell-all book coming out, and he is indeed telling all. We reported earlier on a funny Kevin Garnett-Joakim Noah story, but this one is more dry snitching.
Here is what Allen had to say about Paul Pierce taking nights off during his career and how it drove KG and Allen crazy. Here is the excerpt via Boston.com.
Allen also appreciated Garnett’s everlasting tenacity — an intangible trait that he felt didn’t necessarily light up the stat sheet.
“He never took a game off. A possession off,” he wrote. “I can’t say that of anyone else I played with, and I played with some of the best.”
Paul Pierce, on the other hand, would explicitly announce he was “taking the night off” when matched up against a player who wasn’t considered to be elite. Pierce’s attitude ticked Allen off. He was sure to express his disapproval to Pierce, who eventually no longer joked about taking it easy.
“No player should ever have a night off,” Allen wrote. “The worst player in the NBA would not be in the NBA if he weren’t good, which means he has the potential to beat you on any given night. And if you think you have to put forth a greater effort against the top players, you clearly aren’t giving enough of an effort against everyone else.”
I am sure Pierce will have a lot to say about this.