He feels a little differently now…

…But wow, Paul Pierce didn’t sugarcoat his previous dislike for Danny Ainge. Pierce grew up in Inglewood, in the shadow of the Great Western Forum, so he was a huge Lakers fan:

“You always wanted to stop Bird, it was like, `Man, don’t let him even catch it. But everybody hated Danny. He was that one guy everyone hated. You can ask anybody, Danny was that one guy you couldn’t stand. You could live with Bird, you could live with Parrish, but everybody hated Danny.

“I wouldn’t put Vujacic on Danny’s level. He was this feisty guy, always wanted to pick a fight or something, diving at your legs, always coming up with a cheap shot.”

You like him now though, right?

“Yeah, that was 20 years ago. It’s just memories.”

Those are just memories, but that’s what you think of.