Photo by patrik-m from Flickr
I remember reading the John Henry legend in second grade. It stuck with me because it was so weird. Why was anyone that proud of hammering? Does the fact that he won the race signify that no machine can conquer the human spirit or the fact that he died signify that an inconcquerable spirit is a long term negative?
I don’t know, and at this point in human development it’s probably irrelevant as we either won or lost that battle a long time ago.
via John Henry Died With A Hammer In His Hands « d’Arte Board.
Most of our legends have no original author, though there may be many claims to the title. The tale of Paul Pierce is largely different; if it weren’t for Tony Battie and his brother, this story may never have been told.
Pierce has become the John Henry of the NBA – perhaps not of the same stature, but a man capable of equally breathtaking displays of consistent excellence. A player most renown for his ability to get to his spot on the floor at will – “just to the right of the foul stripe, 19 feet and in” – wields that power like the mythical Henry and his hammer, blasting holes big enough to accommodate a freight train through defensive mountains.
On September 25, 2000, of course, Pierce’s legend threatened to turn to tragedy. Attempting to play peace-maker outside of a nightclub, he was jumped by three men and stabbed 11 times. Security lifted the bloodied Pierce to Battie’s car, and Tony and his brother, Derrick, rushed Pierce to a local hospital. They may very well have saved Pierce’s life – he had lost so much blood that he reportedly recalled asking the emergency room doctors if he was going to die. His injuries required lung surgery. Yet Pierce was the only Celtic to start all 82 games in the 2000-2001 season. He posted the third highest PER of his entire career.
Not that there has been much variance in his performance over the years. His lowest PER is 17.8; his highest, 23.6. He has been good for a stable .160 to .180 WS/48 throughout his time in the NBA – though, like Henry peaking at the end of his race with the steel-driving machine, Pierce has produced a late-career double peak of .207 WS/48 in 2007-2008 and .201 last year.
With Battie, Pierce becomes the Celtic who was there for the awful years – the pre-shimmy Antoine era – and for the redemption. He is the folk hero who challenged Jerry Buss, the owner of Pierce’s childhood fantasies, who challenged the steel-driver that is Kobe Bryant*, and won. Without Battie, Pierce (whose WS/48 hovered around .150 in his first two seasons before the stabbing) joins the catalog of tragedy in post-Bird Boston basketball, another young man and shining star burned out before his time due to harrowing circumstances.
*Bryant is 10 months younger than Pierce but made his league debut two and a half years earlier – a combination of Bryant coming out of high school and Pierce’s debut being delayed by the 98-99 lockout. By most metrics, Bryant is the more efficient offensive player; he is the cold, single-purpose Machine of the NBA (with all apologies to Sasha Vujacic).
Perhaps that playoff run in 07-08 and that first Finals against the Lakers took too much out of the old Celtics and contributed to Kevin Garnett’s subsequent injury. But at the end of the 2008 NBA Finals, it was Pierce, not Bryant, who stood as MVP. Though the chances for the Celtics to repeat in 08-09 may have been dashed, the race against the Machine had been won.
Until the day he retires, Paul Pierce will wield his hammer at his choosing, getting to his favorite spot on the floor when he so wishes. It’s the stuff of legends. At least with this folk story, we know whom to thank for keeping the dream alive.
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