Blog
2
Oct
2012
Paul Pierce turns 35 in two weeks and is entering his 15th NBA season. Kevin Garnett is 36 and about to play his 18th year. They have played 1,155 (PP) and 1,380 (KG) games respectively over the course of their careers. For contrast Larry Bird only lasted 13 years and 1,061 games. Pierce and Garnett are old. But they’re not acting like it. You’d think Doc would start playing them fewer minutes this year. But I also thought last year, and even the year before. Somehow it’s just not the case, the numbers show they haven’t been slowing down:
Season MPG:
Pierce Garnett
35.9 ’08 32.8
37.5 ’09 31.1
34.0 ’10 29.9
34.7 ’11 31.3
34.0 ’12 31.1
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Not only have their minutes failed to decline, but they’re staying fairly healthy with age as well. Last year they missed just 11 games between the two of them, and the 6 for Garnett were the fewest since he’s been in Boston. And for this season? I’m predicting 33.4 MPG and 75 games for Pierce; 30.7 MPG and 71 games for KG.
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4 Comments
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Mark,
I really hope you are on the high side with your estimates. While their minutes may not have dropped, their minutes of effectiveness has. When they pull long minutes, or multiple games without rest in between, they seem noticeably less mobile in the latter stages of those contests. I hope Doc does go to the 5-5-5 plan with Pierce also. I hope he sits one of them out in one or the other of back to backs. I hope Pierce is under 32 and Garnett under 28 (considering they should have some 4th quarters off when games are decided.) I’m hoping they both play in around 70 games (uninjured but with nights off for preventive maintenance).
I agree with all of those things, but like I said in the post, I also thought that was how it was going to happen last year.
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