Is Pierce Most Underrated Defensive Player in the League?

[magicfan4life05]

yes or no?



I think he does not get enough credit for his D because his offensive is so good...

[Walt Cronkite]

Apparently yes, since he just broke his own ankle (badum CHA!)

[bballcool34]

Earlier this year, I remember people saying that a big part of it was having Garnett to back him up- and that does help a lot.

But, Pierce has without a doubt stepped up his defense this season, and even more so in the playoffs.

[Walt Cronkite]

To seriously answer, no. The most underrated defensive player is someone that no one thinks about, like Keyon Dooling or Jeff Foster. Chuck Hayes, someone like that. I'd expect that even people that don't like Pierce would consider him an average defender.

I think that he's very good.

[miller31time]

He's a good defensive player. He used to be average but now that he has help on the offensive end, he can concentrate more on defense.

I think there are a lot of players who are better defenders than they seem because of insufficient offensive support.

[Bank Shot]

He has been in the playoffs. He did a great job on LeBron and his defense on Kobe has been excellent.

[LiquidFire]

atleast he got all nba 3rd team. so no. not really.

lebron on the other hand is underrated.

[L&H_05]

LeBron lit him up for 3 games in the playoffs... Then again, LeBron is indeed the best player in the game IMO... There's not a more dominant force..

[Green Menace]

I always believed that Kobe was a much better defender than Paul, but in this match up KB can

[Triple M]

And I really think KB can

[Triple M]

Pierce went from being quite below avg as a young player
to slightly above avg in the Obie year
to below avg and sometimes terrible
and now is very solid.

[The_Believer]

I used to think he was a liability, but his D on Bron and Kobe is very impressive, IMO >> Battier's D on Kobe. He's now a great D player.

[Joyeuse]

Pierce has done an incredible job on defense in the playoffs. I remember how many people were calling him a one-dimensional player who did nothing but score a year or two ago. But I think a lot of people are recognizing how well he's playing on defense now.

LeBron lit him up for 3 games in the playoffs... Then again, LeBron is indeed the best player in the game IMO... There's not a more dominant force..

LeBron lights everyone up. All things considered, Pierce did about as well a job as you could possibly do against someone as good as LeBron. He had horrible percentages for the series.

[Curmudgeon]

Since 1999 he's been a one-dimensional player. This year he's found religion.

Outstanding defense on Kobe in the 4th quarter.

[UDRIH14]

has one good series, now you wanna give him alot of credit?

[Green Menace]

How is Pierce guarding the MVP so well if he

[A.J.]

Pierce is very underrated at defense. Aside from Battier, I have never seen anyone lock down Kobe like that when it counts.

[Gomes3PC]

The first 2-3 years he was in the league, Pierce was a very, very good defender. Jim O'Brien got him to play an extremely in-your-face defense, and he picked up a lot of steals and was a ferocious rebounder. Then, like many stars, he got 'fat and happy'; Obie was fired and a carousel of teammates and coaches circled through until we got KG and Allen to rekindle his spark.

He went from rising star to me-first moneymaker to jacka$$ (Pacers series a few years back, pulling his shirt off and doing the postgame bandaged) to, IMO, superstar. His defense was nothing short of phenomenal on Kobe. He used his length to keep Kobe at bay, used his left hand to bother his jumper, and his strength to take the post-up game away.

Not the most underrated defender, but I think he is earning a lot of credit from the average sports fan thanks to this series and Game 7 vs. Lebron.

[LiquidFire]

Pierce is very underrated at defense. Aside from Battier, I have never seen anyone lock down Kobe like that when it counts.

you must of missed both cavs-lakers games then. lebron completely shut down kobe in the 4th. mostly because of his size, strength, speed and just stayed with him

[Storm Surge]

All defense takes is good athleticism and experience. Pretty much any prolific scorer can be good defenders if they give the effort they can shut down players. They just give more effort on offense. I'm talking about guys like Kobe, pierce, tmac that have the athletic bodies to harrass a player.