Paul Pierce surpassed Hall of Famer Larry Bird for second on Boston’s all-time scoring list on Tuesday night against the Bobcats.

Pierce entered the game needing nine points to tie Bird and he took over sole possession of second-place with a three-pointer at the 10:18 mark of the third quarter.

Having edged Bird, who is now the President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, Pierce is behind only John Havlicek (26,395) for the most points in franchise history. He entered the Charlotte game with 21,782 points in 984 regular-season games.

Bird played 897 regular-season games in his career and finished with 21,791 points.

“Paul is one of the best offensive players in the NBA and what makes him effective is he has done it a variety of ways, whether it's hitting the big shot, getting to the free throw line, whatever,” Bird said to RealGM through a Pacers spokesman. “He can hit the three and he's deceptive in his ability to getting to the basket.”

Pierce, who is in his 14th NBA season, has spent his entire career with the Celtics. Coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday night that being at the top of any sort of Boston list means you’ve been around a long time.

“Whenever you pass anybody in Boston, it means you’re old. It’s the only way you can get there, you have to play a long time,” Rivers said. “The history of this franchise and the numbers that have been amassed, it’s just amazing. He’s had longevity, he’s been relativity injury-free and he’s been so consistent throughout his career. Passing Larry Bird in anything is pretty impressive.”

Pierce is averaging 18.6 points per game this season and entered Tuesday’s contest trailing Havlicek by 4,613 points. If he averages around 15 points per game over the remainder of his career, he would need to play 308 more games to surpass Havlicek. Pierce is under contract through the 2013-14 season and he’d likely have to play into the 2015-16 campaign to become Boston’s all-time leading scorer. He will be 38-years-old at the start of that season.