The Washington Wizards faced a tough weekend set against a couple of playoff-caliber opponents and came away with an even split—but Paul Pierce came away disappointed with the way his team performed, even in Friday night’s win.

The Wiz edged the Miami heat 105-103 Friday and turned around Sunday and allowed the Phoenix Suns to score triple digits in a 104-92 defeat. Overall results aside, The Truth was disappointed that his team got away from the defensive identity that carried them up the Eastern Conference standings in the early going.

“It was disappointing,” Paul said after Sunday’s defeat. “In the last couple games, we had some slippage on the defensive end, giving up 100 points. We know that’s not us. So it’s a tough loss tonight. We have to go back to the drawing board and understand why we win and what happens when we lose, understand we’re a defensive team first, and get back to our principles.”

Phoenix Suns v Washington Wizards

Paul tallied 14 points, three rebounds and an assist, including two clutch fourth-quarter buckets as the Wizards squeaked out a 105-103 victory—but even after that offensive triumph, The Truth came away preaching about the other side of the ball.

“Tonight I wasn’t happy with the defense, especially against a team that struggles to get 100 points,” Paul said. “We let them shoot too high of a percentage … Even though we made a good comeback, that’s nice and all, but we’re building for the long run. It’s not about today, and winning the game today and how we won it. We’re building habits for the great teams, the playoffs. That’s what I’m looking at each and every night.”

Phoenix Suns v Washington Wizards

The Heat shot 53.3 percent from the floor Friday night and allowed star guard Dwyane Wade to amass 28 points and eight assists. He hoped that his squad would learn a quick lesson and turn around Sunday night with a better defensive performance—but that didn’t happen.

Phoenix controlled the second half and pulled out a 12-point win at the Verizon Center to end Washington’s six-game win streak, as well as its eight-game home win streak. After that game, Paul — 12 points, three rebounds and a steal — once again was critical of the team defense, but he took a moment to recognize how good the Wizards are becoming.

“It’s the little things right now that are beating us,” he said Sunday night. “I thought they just out-hustled us tonight, that never happens to us. They were the hungrier team on the offensive rebounds, and we need to do a better job matching their energy and we didn’t do that tonight.”

He also took some of the blame for Sunday’s loss, as he and all other starters except John Wall all finished without an assist in a game where the two teams combined for more turnovers (28) than assists (24).

“We’re a pass-first team where we’re moving the ball, four or five passes and making the extra pass, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Friday night’s game was a much cleaner game for everybody, featuring 46 total assists to just 24 turnovers, though the Wizards showed signs of slipping. Their play was noticeably below the exceptional standard they have set so far this season, but they still pulled out the win thanks to some clutch play by The Truth and John Wall.

It was Paul’s first game in five days, as he sat out Tuesday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves with a sore toe. The toe has been bothering him on and off for some time now, and he and Head Coach Randy Wittman opted to just give him a few days of recovery time.
Still, Paul remained busy around D.C. during his time off.

Perhaps the extra days off helped him stay fresh late, as No. 34 made two huge buckets in the final four minutes to help Washington to victory.

The first came with 3:58 left and the Wizards down one. Paul hustled down the court in transition, called for the ball, took the pass from Wall and drove into two Heat defenders, twisting and contorting his body in midair for a slick layup to give Washington its first lead since the second quarter.

Back on defense, Paul (6’7”, 235 pounds) was forced into guarding point guard Mario Chalmers (6’2”, 190 pounds) a few times down the stretch, and the small forward didn’t allow the much quicker guard to score once.

With the game tied and less than two minutes on the clock, Wall drove to the hoop and put up a contested layup that nearly dropped but just rimmed out. The Miami backcourt was already sprinting downcourt waiting for an outlet pass that would have resulted in an easy bucket and deflated the Washington crowd, but No. 34 was there to stop all of that.

https://twitter.com/NotEvenTryingS/status/546141163741515776

The Truth’s tip gave the Wizards a lead they would hold for the rest of the game, despite a few missed free throws that threatened to let Miami take the lead.

“You can learn a lot of lessons from losses, but you also learn lessons from winning.”

Washington Wizards v Miami Heat

Early on in Phoenix, it looked like the Wizards had learned from their victory.

They competed defensively in the first quarter, limiting the Suns to 40 percent shooting and forcing five turnovers to take a 23-22 lead after one.

Phoenix Suns v Washington Wizards

However, as the game worn on, the defensive intensity faded.

Paul had a few huge plays on Sunday, trying to spark his defense, including one sequence late in the second quarter where he knocked down a three then hustled back on defense to give a good hard foul to stop a breakaway dunk by Marcus Morris. Morris missed both free throws, but a mental lapse allowed Phoenix’s Alex Len to pull down the offensive rebound and drop an almost uncontested putback.

That play was the epitome of the game for Washington. The Wizards lost the scoring battle in each of the final three quarters, as they failed to do those little things necessary for victory.

“It’s all the mindset,” The Truth said afterward. “We just have to get our minds right before Tuesday.”

NEXT UP

Paul and the Wizards have their final tune-up before their Christmas Day showdown against the New York Knicks, which will come in the form of a tough matchup at home against the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls will travel to D.C. for a Tuesday evening game that will mark the first of four regular-season meetings between the teams this year.

Washington upset the Bulls in the playoffs last season in a series that was generally considered the coming-out party for this incarnation of the Wizards, and games between the two teams often get testy.

It also marks the first time these two teams have seen each other since Paul and Joakim Noah got into a scuffle in the preseason, which simply added fuel to the fire between the teams.

The Truth and the Bulls have also had a number of run-ins over the years, including the epic seven-game series between Chicago and the Boston Celtics in 2009, so these players all know each other very well.

After the game against Chicago, Washington travels to Madison Square Garden for a battle with the Knicks on the 25th. The Wizards-Knicks game will be the first of five nationally televised NBA games on the holiday, starting at noon EST.

RELATED LINKS