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Paul Pierce vs. Richard Jefferson beef, explained: Who is telling the truth about head-to-head stats?

Jordan Greer

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Paul Pierce vs. Richard Jefferson beef, explained: Who is telling the truth about head-to-head stats? image

Brace yourselves, folks. We've got some ESPN on (former) ESPN crime here.

On a recent episode of "The Ticket & The Truth" podcast, Kevin Garnett asked Paul Pierce about defenders that he faced during his career, and Richard Jefferson's name popped up. The longtime NBA forward and current ESPN analyst faced Pierce several times, mostly as a member of the Nets.

Jefferson heard Pierce's dismissive comments, and he had a strong response. Did Pierce or Jefferson win this post-retirement beef? Let's take a look at the evidence.

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Paul Pierce vs. Richard Jefferson beef, explained

When Pierce heard Garnett mention Jefferson, he simply laughed off the idea that Jefferson had any chance to stop him.

"Oh, that's easy 40, every time, every time," Pierce said. "Don't even talk about him. Look at the numbers, dog. Numbers don't lie, man, come on."

Jefferson had some time, and he did, indeed, look at the numbers. Before he broke down the stats, Jefferson acknowledged he wasn't on the same level as Pierce before sneaking in a little shot at the Hall of Famer.

"Comparing me to him is like comparing him to [Dwyane Wade]," Jefferson said. "They're different stratospheres. We don't even do that."

That's a reference to the famous ESPN segment in which Jalen Rose laid out the career accolades of Pierce and Wade after Pierce, who was working for "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" at the time, compared himself to the Heat legend. But Jefferson didn't stop there.

He noted that the Nets dominated the Celtics during an extended stretch in the early 2000s, including a 36-point blowout on Christmas Day in 2002 and a sweep in the 2003 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

"Now, I'm not gonna sit up here and act like I was a better player than you, not even gonna act like that," Jefferson said. "But to disrespect and say the s— was sweet — I think your definition of sweet's a little bit different."

(Note: Explicit language in the clip below.)

Paul Pierce vs. Richard Jefferson: Who is telling the truth?

Pierce fired back on Twitter, saying that he wasn't talking about the "team matchup" but rather his "historic games with [Jefferson] as my primary defender."

Jefferson gave credit to Pierce for a December 2001 performance in which Pierce went off for 46 of his 48 points in the second half and overtime of a Celtics win.

That was Pierce's only 40-point explosion against Jefferson, though, and he definitely had some rough outings, too. When one Twitter user recalled a bad shooting night, Pierce shifted the blame to his teammates.

Ultimately, the numbers are on Jefferson's side. Pierce wasn't close to averaging 40 points per game in his battles with Jefferson.

Sorry, Paul.

Paul Pierce vs. Richard Jefferson regular season stats

Stats Pierce Jefferson
Record 22-14 14-22
PPG 20.4 14.0
RPG 6.4 4.1
APG 3.1 2.2
FG% 41.6 43.8
3PT FG% 43.4 35.0
FT % 76.9 80.5

Paul Pierce vs. Richard Jefferson playoff stats

Stats Pierce Jefferson
Record 2-8 8-2
PPG 25.8 11.2
RPG 8.6 5.4
APG 5.4 2.4
FG% 38.4 48.8
3PT FG% 23.2 0.0
FT % 74.4 63.6

Jordan Greer

Jordan Greer Photo

Jordan Greer has been with The Sporting News since 2015. He previously worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is a graduate of Westminster College and Syracuse University.