Paul Pierce doesn’t think Celtics ‘fear’ Cavs: ‘When you the champ, you ain’t fearing nobody’

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The Cleveland Cavaliers have been far and away the best team in the Eastern Conference in the 2024-25 regular season. Cleveland’s record of 56-10 has the squad at least 8.5 games ahead of every other team in the conference.

Still, Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce doesn’t think the defending champion Celtics fear the Cavs even though they’re enjoying a historically successful campaign. Cleveland is on track to set a franchise record for most wins in a single season.

“At the Celtics’ best, it’s better than — it’s way better than everybody else at their best,” Pierce said. “You know what I’m saying?”

Pierce weighed in on Cleveland.

“They’re a threat,” he said of the Cavs. “You can’t take ’em lightly ’cause when you see these winning streaks that they got, they for real. But it ain’t no — I don’t think it’s no fear factor because when you the champ, you ain’t fearing nobody.”

Folks should maybe take Pierce’s comments with a grain of salt, as he could be biased toward the Celtics thanks to all the time he spent playing for the iconic franchise. He was with Boston for the first 15 seasons of his NBA career and won a title with the Celtics back in the year 2008.

However, the Celtics may feel confident about their chances of becoming the first team to repeat since the Golden State Warriors in the decade prior. Boston’s record might not stack up to Cleveland’s, but the team still sits as the No. 2 seed in the East, and the Celtics’ playoff success last year speaks for itself.

Boston dominated its competition in the 2024 NBA Playoffs on the way to its 18th title in franchise history. The Celtics lost just three games across four playoff series victories and didn’t drop more than one contest in any of those series.

Conversely, Cleveland and its “core four” of Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are still trying to prove that they can put together a deep playoff run.

The quartet helped Cleveland to its first playoff series victory in several years when the Cavaliers eliminated the Orlando Magic in seven games in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. The run came to an end in the next round against the Celtics.

If the Cavaliers and Celtics cross paths in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, folks will find out definitively whether or not Boston should fear a Cavaliers team that is perched atop the East standings as the No. 1 seed.