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.
Pierce finished with 15 points. He 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.
Pierce nearly celebrated with a triple-double, coming up just short with nine assists and eight rebounds.
Rajon Rondo added 14 assists and 10 points, Kevin Garnett scored 22 and Ray Allen finished with 17 points on a night that clearly belonged to the team captain known as “The Truth” — which Mickeal Pietrus had written in big letters on a towel he waved for Pierce.
Derrick Brown went 10 for 10 from the field for 20 points for Charlotte, but the biggest shooter Tuesday was Pierce on what normally would have been an off shooting night for him.
He had seven points at halftime, then got his big moment out of the way with 10:23 left in the third on a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
“I’m not going to lie. It was hanging over my head too much,” Pierce said. “You kind of just felt it. It was hard to really ignore it and just focus on the game.”
Reggie Williams scored 21 for the Bobcats, who lost their 12th straight despite staying within 11 points through the first three quarters. Kemba Walker had 16 points and seven assists for the Bobcats, who kept it close before Boston opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run.
Brandon Bass scored 13 and Garnett added seven rebounds for the Celtics.
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