Paul Pierce had a shot to do what he does best and give his Washington Wizards a victory with a buzzer-beater and the end of regulation, but oddly, his game-winner missed its mark.

Fortunately, The Truth nailed his chance at redemption in overtime. Early in the extra period, No. 34 rose for a one-handed slam and threw down through contact, later finishing the three-point play at the line. From then on, the Wiz never looked back and closed out a 96-94 OT victory over the Indiana Pacers.

Indiana Pacers v Washington Wizards

While it was an off night offensively for No. 34—who tallied 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block—point guard John Wall, who knocked down three unanswered buckets shortly after Paul’s OT jam, carried the load on his teammate’s off night.

“There are nights like that,” The Truth said after the game. “I got a lot of good shots. I missed shots at the rim, missed shots at my sweet spot, missed shots at the free throw line, missed open looks at the end. Sometimes there are nights like that, but my teammates bailed me out. John Wall came through and had a great game.”

The Truth was an uncharacteristic 3-of-15 from the field, but Wall came through with an All-Star performance in his stead, hitting 11-of-21 shots for 31 points, with 10 assists, six rebounds, three steals and a block. That huge output earned some big praise from Pierce.

“He’s playing like the All-Star he is,” Paul said of Wall. “He’s coming up huge in these games that we need early, especially when we’re down one of our main scorers in Bradley. He’s stepping up. He has shown growth, he’s shown maturity, and that’s what we need from him every night. He’s one of our leaders here and we need that. He’s taken on the challenge.”

It was a quiet first quarter for Paul, but Wall was on fire from the start, as he tallied seven points and assisted on three 3-pointers—two from Garrett Temple and one from Otto Porter Jr.—in the first 12 minutes alone. However, the Pacers, despite being without Paul George, George Hill and others, stuck right with the home team, ending the first at a 24-24 tie.

Indiana Pacers v Washington Wizards

In the second, the Wizards managed to seize a bit of control, but it wasn’t due to overwhelming offensive play. They scored just four points over the first four-and-a-half minutes of the frame, but strong defense allowed them to pull away once Paul and the starters re-entered later in the quarter.

After Paul, Wall and Co. came back in at the 7:11 mark, Washington went on a 16-6 run that included five minutes of scoreless basketball from Indiana. Paul cashed in a pair of free throws and then hit a mid-range jumper at the buzzer to give the Wiz a 46-41 halftime advantage.

But it was that defensive effort that made the difference in the quarter, and ultimately the game.

“We won this game defensively, the truth about it,” Paul said. “We didn’t really shoot the ball well, but defense kept us in it all night against a team that’s short handed obviously, but they’re gritty, they’re well-coached and these guys are going to play hard but we got the win.”

The Wizards have hung their hats on defense so far in this young season, and are holding opponents to just 95.8 points per game. They’ve only given up 100 points once so far, in their season-opening loss to the Miami Heat, and they’ve forced 19 turnovers per game, tied for third-most in the NBA.

Indiana Pacers v Washington Wizards

With continued stifling effort on defense, Washington nursed their five-point halftime lead all the way into the fourth quarter.

But the Pacers struck when the iron was hot late in the game behind point guard Donald Sloan. Sloan scored Indy’s last seven points in regulation, including back-to-back buckets to tie the game at 82.

At the end of a quiet offensive night, Paul knocked down two clutch free throws to give the Wizards an 84-82 lead, only to see Sloan answer back with a gritty driving lay-in.

With six seconds left in regulation and the game tied at 84, Wizards head coach Randy Wittman drew up a play to put the ball in the hands of Wall. The Washington point man drove right but drew a double team from The Truth’s defender.

After Wall kicked to Paul, the defender quickly recovered, but Paul sold him on a pump fake, stepped forward and launched the three. With No. 34 shooting an open jumper for the win, the ball seemed destined to connect, and it looked on-line off his hand. However, the shot was just a touch too strong and bounced off the back of the iron.

Wittman later said he didn’t regret the play call, as Paul — currently fifth in NBA history in three-pointers made — will make that shot far more than he’ll miss it.

“I know I’ve seen him make that shot many times,” Wittman said. “It didn’t go in, so you’ve got to go win in another way. I’ll take those shots that we had there. But the good thing is our guys didn’t get discouraged, get their heads down,

[say] ‘Oh we can’t make a shot.’ We went out and we dug it out defensively.”

After the disappointing miss to end regulation, once again it was Paul and Wall taking over late for the Wizards and The Truth brought the thunder to start OT.

Less than a minute into the extra session, he drove the left baseline and bounced up for a big one-handed dunk, while drawing contact. He finished the three-point play at the line to give the Wizards a lead they would not relinquish. After the emphatic dunk re-energized the home crowd, the lightning-fast Wall took over the game. He rattled off six straight points and helped force two turnovers, while putting the Wizards up five and forcing a Pacers timeout.

Moments later, Wall found No. 34 on the elbow, where he was looking to post up. Sensing Paul was due to heat up after almost winning it earlier, Indiana immediately double-teamed The Truth, who then found center Marcin Gortat for a clean look at the basket. Gortat missed the shot but drew a foul and made both of his subsequent free throws. Paul and Wall scored 10 of Washington’s 12 points in overtime, with Gortat’s free throws being the only exception.

After the game The Truth admitted excitement with his team’s outstanding 4-1 start to the season, but also found some potential for progress, particularly off the glass. The Wiz were worked on the boards, as Indy held a 57-43 rebounding advantage.

“We have to clean up some things. It’s not always going to be perfect,” Paul said. “That’s what we always talk about: sometimes you’ve got to find ways to win. We always talk about the rebound war, but tonight we got crushed on the rebound war and found a way to win, so that’s key if we can find different ways to win. But we can’t make that a habit. We have to get better as the year goes on.”

NEXT UP

Paul and the Wizards will continue their brutal stretch to open the season this weekend as they travel to Toronto and then Indiana for a road back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. Five of the team’s first seven games are on the road, and the seven games will be played over a span of just 11 days.

After Saturday’s game, the Wizards are off until the following Wednesday, when they begin a four-game homestand.

Friday’s game at Toronto will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday’s game at Indiana begins at 7 p.m. Both will be shown locally on Comcast Sports Net.

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