Paul Pierce lives for Game 7s. This Sunday afternoon, he’ll get to participate in the ninth of his NBA career.

The Truth and his Brooklyn Nets forced a Game 7 in their first round series with a wire-to-wire 97-83 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at the Barclays Center. Paul tallied 12 points in the game, but did work all over the court with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Toronto Raptors v Brooklyn Nets

Afterward, No. 34 surmised that the game was won in the tempo Brooklyn set from the jump on both ends of the floor.

“It was just very aggressive. We came out and established our defensive tone. We pushed the ball

[on offense]. The tempo the whole night was great for us,” he said. “We won the rebound war tonight, we got the ball up court, got the easy opportunities in transition and when we got in the halfcourt, we made the extra pass. It was very unselfish basketball.”

That aggressive start by Brooklyn came with some big plays from the Truth. Toronto was keeping pace with the Nets early, but when Paul took a pass from Joe Johnson and drove in for a finger roll, it started the ball rolling on a 14-5 Nets run to establish a double-digit lead.


Toronto Raptors v Brooklyn Nets

After Toronto stalled the run and cut the lead to single digits, No. 34 got it going again with a drive to the hoop, this time off a feed from Deron Williams. On Brooklyn’s next possession, Paul drew a foul and sank both free throws to put the Nets up 27-14. His biggest shot came just a minute later when Williams found Paul on the perimeter and The Truth buried a trey to make it 30-16 with 2:01 left in the first. Brooklyn led by 15 after one quarter and 19, 60-41 at halftime.

After the game, Paul credited Williams for the team’s hot start.

“Tonight was a great team win, led by Deron,” he said. “He really set the tone on both ends of the court. He really got up on Lowry and made him drive, and he went back at him on offense. I think that just opened up things for everybody.”

The Nets continued to roll early in the third, pushing the lead even higher. Two minutes into the quarter, their advantage was 20 and when Williams found Paul for another wing three with just 4:21 gone by in the third, Brooklyn’s lead hit its highest point at 26.

Toronto Raptors v Brooklyn Nets

Toronto got things going with a run to cut the lead down to 16, but The Truth stepped up on defense to halt their momentum. In the final three-and-a-half minutes of the third, No. 34 had a block and two steals, allowing Brooklyn to take a 20-point lead into the fourth.

Paul spent the first six-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter on the bench getting one last breather. But when the Raptors trimmed the Nets lead down to 13, coach Jason Kidd brought No. 34 back into the game and it was his size, not his scoring, which made a difference down the stretch.

With Toronto threatening to cut the lead to single digits in the closing minutes, Paul grabbed two huge defensive rebounds to stifle their possessions. Williams followed the second of those rebounds with a dagger three to put the Nets up 13 with 1:13 to go and put an end to Game 6.

NEXT UP

The series now comes down to a do-or-die Game 7 in Toronto on Sunday.

Few players in the NBA have more Game 7 experience than The Truth, whose teams are 4-4 in his eight career Game 7s. No. 34 has averages of 21.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and three assists per game over those eight games. His best game 7 performance came in the second round of the 2008 playoffs when he scored 41 points on 13-of-23 to push the Celtics to a 97-92 win over Cleveland on the way to the NBA title.

When asked after Game 6 for his thoughts on the upcoming Game 7, Paul couldn’t hide his love for the moment that is about to come.

“It’s going to be fun. This is what the NBA is all about, these pressure-type moments. These are the type of games that elevate the good players to great players,” he said. “We’re going to enjoy it. We’re going to a hostile environment, win or go home, this is the type of situation I love to be in and I love our chances.”

Game 7 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto is slated for a 1 p.m. ET tip-off on Sunday afternoon and the game can be seen nationwide on ABC.

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