Paul Pierce is characterizing his stabbing incident almost as a blessing in disguise.

Pierce was stabbed 11 times at a nightclub in Boston in 2000. He recently spoke on his Showtime basketball podcast “Ticket and the Truth” about how it was a wake-up call for him.

“My stabbing incident really motivated me to be on the court,” Pierce said. “I wanted to just be on the court, keep my mind off it. It really helped me lock in. Some things you go through in life really help you lock in, to do what you really need to do.

“Me going through that incident, it was just like, man, I really need to focus on basketball. I shouldn’t really be in the streets or chasing girls or going to the club. It’s like, I really just need to zero back in on basketball. And that took up my whole life at that point from there on out.”

When Pierce felt snubbed by missing the All-Star Game that season, he vowed never to let that happen again.

“Because you know you say you want to have a balance. You don’t want to be too locked in on one thing. You want to be involved with family and other things,” he said. “But I cut off everything. Family, friends, everything. And I just zoned in on basketball.

“And I remember that year, the All-Star Game was in D.C. I didn’t make the All-Star Game. I flew home. I didn’t even tell my friends. I flew to L.A., I got a hotel room and I watched the All-Star Game. I ordered room service. And I was like I’m never coming home for the All-Star Game again. And then after that, I made it every year from that point on.”

Pierce went on to make 10 All-Star teams and win an NBA championship with the Celtics in 2008.

“You know, sometimes you go through traumatic things, and it can take you one way or the other,” Pierce said. “And I just felt like it was a turn for the better. It doesn’t always have to be bad things that happen to you. It can be some good things that turn you. But for me, it turned me, not only as a person, but as a player too.”