Lucky #36

On Wednesday night at the Garden, Paul Pierce made history. Asserting his name even further into the folklore of one of sports most storied franchises, The Truth eclipsed 20,000 career points when he sank a free throw in overtime against the Bucks, becoming just the 36th player in the NBA history to accomplish the feat. Before being united with KG and Ray prior to the 2008 season, the knock on Pierce was always that he had never won a ring, let alone a big game (except for a couple trips to the Eastern Conference Finals with Antoine and Jim O' Brien in the early 2000s).

Now the question is: how high is his legend rising amongst the all-time greats? Pierce now ranks third in scoring in Celtics history, trailing only Larry Bird (21,791) and John Havlicek (26,395). After signing a four-year deal in the offseason that guarantees The Captain in Boston through 2014, it is not unrealistic to assume that Pierce goes down in Celtic history as the team's all-time leading scorer.

Pierce is a living legend. The best part of his milestone is that every single point came in a Celtics uniform. He's a Finals MVP. An 8-time All-Star. A Three-Point Champion. But most of all, a Captain.