It was a wild and frustrating fourth quarter for the Celtics, especially Paul Pierce, who was vocal, emotional, and animated many different times as Boston crawled back from a 25 point first-half deficit against the New Jersey Nets. Pierce was the only Celtic to start and appear in all 82 games in the 2001-02 season. He led team in most offensive categories, posting averages of 26.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.88 steals. He was the first Celtic in team history to finish as the league leader in total points scored (2,144).