BOSTON -- Boston Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren does not remember the moments immediately after Paul Pierce's greatest prediction. Maybe everybody in the room stood and clapped. Maybe the Celtics players listening to Pierce roared with approval. Maybe everybody looked around like, Man, he really just said that.

Zarren has no idea.

"It was too surreal," he said, recalling Pierce's declaration nine years ago.

Players rarely organize team New Year's parties for teammates, coaches and front-office members, but Pierce set one up for Dec. 31, 2007. When Zarren walked into the Hawthorne, a cocktail bar underneath the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square, little green pillows with shamrocks covered all the chairs and benches. The party went on uneventfully until moments before midnight, when Pierce picked up one of the pillows, stood on top of a couch, and looked out at all the other Celtics.

"We're winning it this year," he said. "This is our year."

"Just like that," Zarren remembered Sunday. "And the rest was history."

Pierce delivered one final basketball memory for the Boston faithful Sunday afternoon, draining a last-minute shot during his last game at TD Garden. Though the game had already been decided and he now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, the crowd started cheering before he even caught the ball, believing - because of all the big shots in his past - he would say goodbye with a make.

When the 3-pointer fell through the net, TD Garden reached a new level of crazy. Knowing Pierce plans to retire at the end of the season, fans spent the afternoon wearing his jersey, chanting his name and embracing him with the appreciation a legend deserves. For some in attendance, that final shot might become the most beloved Pierce memory. But 15 years in one place leave a long trail of stories. Former teammates and Celtics employees have more personal tales to share.

"He's clearly not only revered among the people of New England, but also in our building," said head coach Brad Stevens. "Everybody from the strength and conditioning trainers to front office to people that were around him. We only have one guy left that played with him in Avery Bradley, so a lot of our team's like me from the standpoint of, we didn't get a chance to play with him, be around him or coach him, but we got a chance to feel his impact just by the stories. And then by obviously knowing what he was able to accomplish here."

The best Pierce stories come from the people who know him well. When Walter McCarty hit big shots, Pierce would occasionally run over to tell his teammate, "I love you." Sometimes, McCarty would point out that he had knocked down a single 3-pointer on a night Pierce had scored 40 points.

During Kenny Graves' time as a video coordinator, Pierce took all the guys on the video staff bowling before every season. At Kings Bowl, Graves said, Pierce actually had his own locker. He was invited to the alleys whenever he wanted. Celtics vice president of media services Jeff Twiss had to sift through nearly two decades of Pierce memories to choose a favorite. He settled on two. During a 2007 trip to Rome, Pierce took the head piece from someone dressed up in Roman garb, placed it on his head, grabbed a plastic sword, and walked around like he was leading troops around the city. Twiss' other favorite memory came from Red Auerbach's golf tournament.

"Paul didn't play golf at the time," Twiss recalled. "In the clubhouse, they would just be holding court, talking about anything. We'd walk into this big, nice, palatial golf parlor in the clubhouse. And it would just be the two of them. Just Red smoking a cigar and Paul just listening, taking in every word."

Pierce always appreciated Celtics history. In 2008, he added to it with a championship of his own. Everybody saw how he claimed the Finals MVP award with one big play after another, but teammate Leon Powe shared one of Pierce's more private contributions to the title run. During the Eastern Conference Finals, Powe scored just eight points. After he added just four more during Game 1 of the Finals, Pierce approached him in the locker room.

"He saw me pressing a little bit," Powe remembered. "And he was like, 'Leon, don't trip. Relax. It's just a regular game. Go out there and play your game.' And that really helped me go out there and perform at a high level."

Powe scored 21 points in Game 2, giving the Celtics a 2-0 series lead.

When the time came for Pierce to meet with the media Sunday afternoon, Celtics media services manager Brian Olive knew where to find him: the same place Pierce always used to visit before games. He calls it "The Dungeon," but it really serves as equipment manager Johnny Joe Connor's office.

"When you spend 15 years in one place it's hard to let it go," Pierce said. "And so when you come back to it you just kind of go around and reminisce about it and enjoy the time you had."

Connor could talk for weeks about his relationship with Pierce - how they visited a Vancouver nightclub and "hit it off from the jump" on the night the Celtics drafted Pierce; how he calls Pierce "Hobbs," after Roy Hobbs from The Natural; how they became fierce shooting contest rivals; how, before Boston's huge Game 4 comeback in the 2008 Finals, Connor thought he had beaten Pierce by drilling four of five shots from halfcourt, but Pierce matched him shot for shot.

"My memories are more the laughs," Connor said. "You can get the real stuff of what he did (on the court) - I can tell you that. We're all at the games. But the madness, that was our relationship."

When basketball ends, those are the moments guys miss the most. While waiting for his last game on the parquet floor, Pierce chatted with Connor about everything happening across the NBA - just like old times. They rattled through a list of topics that included Isaiah Thomas, the Golden State Warriors and the leading MVP candidates. Before the conversation finished, Connor pointed out a pile of six shoe boxes tucked on a shelf in the right corner of the room. The number on the side of the box, 34, revealed whose sneakers they were.

The Celtics never did get rid of Pierce's footwear.

"His shoes stay there," Connor said. A jersey, too. "Just in case he wants to come out and come to this locker room."

Though they stay ready for any type of Pierce reunion, the Celtics understand he's given the franchise enough. He added one more remarkable shot Sunday but people already had plenty of Pierce stories to share.