LAS VEGAS — Paul Pierce admitted that he should have known better.

The Hall of Famer-to-be declared the Celtics-Bucks conference semifinal over after his old club won by 22 in Milwaukee in the series opener. Then he watched as the Celts stumbled embarrassingly in four straight losses.

Indeed, it was a strange way to go out, Pierce agreed.

“But that was the tendency for them all year long,” he told the Herald Sunday as he prepared to go before the ESPN cameras.

“I mean, we’d see them win three or four games and then lose three or four games in a row. That was the same all year long. So unless you’re a championship caliber team, you can’t just turn it on and be a team that you weren’t during the regular season.”

As horrible as things were then for a team failing to live up to high but reasonable expectations – and imploding because of inner forces – Pierce doesn’t believe the Celtics are in dire straits now as Kyrie Irving and Al Horford depart.

“I never thought they were in a bad position, even with Kyrie leaving,” he said. “I mean, you’ve still got a chance to develop the young guys. And I think Kemba Walker is a great pickup. They’re still a threat in the East. But even before they signed Kemba, I thought they were all right.”

The fondest hope of the Celts is that, while the club may have lost a measure of talent overall in the transformation, a more cohesive unit could yield better results.

“Absolutely,” Pierce said. “I mean, talent don’t always win. We’ve seen that plenty of times. It’s about fit.

“Who knows if Kemba’s going to be the right fit, because it’s always about more than basketball. It’s about how you get along with your teammates and how the chemistry is. And that’s a strength of Kemba’s, so hopefully it’ll work out.”

The Irving/Walker trade-off could work out when the net is tallied, but the Celtics would seem to be in a hard position as they try to replace Horford.

“Yeah, it’s a tough loss,” said Pierce, “but he’s an aging player who’s been on the decline. They weren’t ready to commit that much money to him, and I probably wouldn’t have either.”

The Celtics would, on the other hand, have committed a full maximum contract to Irving, but Pierce was down on him even harder during the playoffs, criticizing his shot selection and saying it drained the rest of the team.

Looking back on Irving’s Celtic tenure as a whole, Pierce offered a verbal shrug. He saw Kyrie arrive and anoint himself the leader. Then he saw a team fall apart as Irving alternately criticized and was distant with teammates.

“I don’t know him personally, but some people ask for the pressure and some people can deal with it,” Pierce said. “Some people can’t. We’ll see what happens now, because it looks like he’s got pretty much the same thing in Brooklyn, especially now with KD (Kevin Durant) out.”

And the Celtics that Irving left behind may now be, in Pierce’s opinion, prepared to surprise people in a far different manner than they did this past season.

“Let’s put it this way, I like the direction they’re headed,” Pierce said. “I’m not sure if they’re a championship caliber team. That all depends on developing (Jayson) Tatum and (Jaylen) Brown. But, you know, if these guys can emerge into All-Star players, then we’ll see.”

Pierce may still wind up having a hand in that. He has volunteered to pass on his knowledge to Tatum, and Brad Stevens has said he’s very much in favor of accepting such assistance.

For now, Pierce will continue to dispense opinions on television and trust his brain instead of his heart when it comes to the Celtics.