Growing up in the shadow of the Forum in Inglewood, Paul Pierce loved all things about the Lakers and loathed all there was about the Boston Celtics.
He idolized Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy, just like all his friends did at Inglewood High. He despised Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and every other Celtic because that was ingrained in the psyche of Lakers fans.
Reminiscing about those feelings makes Pierce laugh, because he spent 15 seasons with the Celtics carving out a successful, possibly Hall of Fame career.