LeBron James and the Miami Heat still can't seem to handle "The Truth."
With the nickname famously bestowed upon him by Shaquille O'Neal stitched on the back of his jersey on Wednesday night, Paul Pierce led the Brooklyn Nets to another win over the Miami Heat. The 36-year-old veteran scored a game-high 29 points in Miami as the Nets improved to 3-0 against the Heat this season. He poured in 17 points in a scorching third quarter and later came through with a tie-breaking bucket late in the fourth. With the score 92-92 and less than two minutes remaining in regulation, Pierce got Dwyane Wade off his feet on the perimeter and then drove for a go-ahead layup.
“From the time I woke up, I was locked in,” Pierce told reporters after the Nets' 96-95 win, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “Like I said this morning, I understand that this is going to be one of our toughest games to date. You understand these times of year, as a veteran, because you’ve played in so many of these games. You understand the mentality you have to have.”
While Pierce is producing below is career averages in his first season in Brooklyn, he has been able to bring the right "mentality" to the court whenever facing James and the Heat. Pierce is averaging slightly more than 13 points per game this season but has far surpassed that figure in each of the Nets' wins over the Heat this season. He scored 19 in the first meeting, 23 in the second and 29 on Wednesday.
"I'm sure his antenna is raised in games like this, against us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game, reported Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
Being fictional, Colonel Nathan R. Jessep could not be reached for comment. But there is at least one famous line from this scene in "A Few Good Men" that could have been included in any postgame comments he ever could have made.