Paul Pierce wants to sweep Raptors, avoid customs

By Alexandra Huber | Apr 22, 2015

Jan 25, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Washington Wizards forward Paul Pierce (34) during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center. The Wizards won 117-115. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /

Following Washington’s Game 2 win in Toronto, Paul Pierce announces he wants to sweep the Raptors, avoid Canadian customs.

Paul Pierce has no interest in duty free shopping.

After Tuesday night’s win over the Raptors in Toronto, Washington Wizards small forward Paul Pierce let everyone know exactly how he feels about playing in Canada. As the Wizards headed to the locker room after the game, Piece yelled, “I don’t want to go through customs no more!”, according to the Washington Post.

Paul Pierce shouting on the way to the locker room after #wizards Game 2 win: "I don't want to go through customs no more."
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) April 22, 2015

Luckily for Pierce, the win gave his team a commanding 2-0 series lead. If the Wizards can take care of business back in Washington, winning the next two, the series will be over. Then Pierce won’t have to worry about clearing customs until next season.

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Think Pierce’s comments have anything to do with Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri’s comments on Saturday?

Prior to Game 1, Ujiri referenced Pierce to the crowd gathered outside of the Air Canada Center. “People want me to say something about Paul Pierce, but we don’t give a [expletive] about it,” Ujiri said.

Well, apparently Pierce doesn’t give a you-know-what about your border control measures.

Not a smart move by Ujiri, getting Paul Pierce all riled up. He is one of the game’s most clutch players.

In all fairness, Pierce probably just meant that he wanted to sweep the Raptors (and why wouldn’t he), but even so, we can’t blame him. International travel is exhausting enough for us regular people, let alone to a professional athlete that has to play two, high-intensity basketball games in four days in a hostile environment.

Even their money is different up there! There’s just a lot going on.

Relatively, though, NBA players have it easy. There is only one NBA team in up in Canada – the Raptors. Think about what NHL players have to go through, bouncing back and forth between the two countries on a regular basis.

We’d like to see an NHL player say what Pierce did. Just one time. Imagine the backlash from Canadian hockey fans? It would be so worth it.

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