Paul Pierce and the Washington Wizards have been playing some of their best basketball of the season of late, and they went on the road to take on one of the Western Conference’s hottest teams.

The Truth had a tough matchup against one of the league’s budding young swingmen, Gordon Hayward, who led a Utah Jazz team that had won six straight. But when Paul and the Wiz put their own four-game win streak on the line in Salt Lake City, they came out on top.

Paul almost singlehandedly kept his Wizards alive in the third quarter against the Jazz. He hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds to give them some breathing room, then he came up with a steal in the final seconds to officially seal the win.

Washington Wizards v Utah Jazz

No. 34 finished with 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point range, four
assists, three rebounds and two steals while helping the Wizards to an 88-84 win at EnergySolutions Arena. He needed every bit of that performance to challenge Hayward, who led his squad with 26 points. However, the clutch play of Paul put D.C. on top in the end.

Washington shot 52.4 percent to Utah’s 41.5 percent, but the Wizards committed 22 turnovers while the Jazz turned it over just nine times. The Wizards hit six of their 11 triples on the night, compared to the Jazz, who made just four of their 22 attempts two nights after going 15-for-24 from deep. Neither team was particularly strong from the free throw line, with Washington going 16-for-23 to Utah’s 12-for-24, but the Wiz stepped up late and drained shots from the charity stripe with the game on the line.

“I think for the most part, we really defended at a high level most of the game,” Paul told reporters after the game. “Outside of some offensive rebounds in the first half, I thought we did a better job of rebounding the ball in the second half. If we could’ve kept our turnovers down, we probably would’ve run away with this game, it probably would’ve been a 20-point blowout, but you’ve got to take the good with the bad. It’s a good start to a long west-coast road trip.”

Washington Wizards v Utah Jazz

Paul started the game well, finding Nene for a dunk for the Wizards’ first points of the evening and knocking down a three a few minutes later, but he picked up two fouls in the first period and was held to less than five minutes of action in the second, and the Wiz took a 42-40 lead into the break.

Once the third quarter got started, however, there was no stopping The Truth.

No. 34 got the offense started in the second half the same way he did in the first, by finding Nene for a bucket. When the Wizards struggled to muster some offense and had scored just eight points more than halfway through the period, Paul took over.

After point guard John Wall converted an and-one, he found the future Hall of Famer on the perimeter for a three-ball to put Washington up 53-50.

The Wizards offense remained stagnant the next two times down the court, forcing up back-to-back midrange jumpers, so Paul took it upon himself to jumpstart his team. Less than two minutes after the first three, The Truth knocked down another trey to put his squad up 58-52.

Wall missed a three the next time down the court, but Paul swiped the ball from Jazz guard Rodney Hood, sprinted down the court in transition and found his speedy point guard for an easy layup.

Utah then missed its next shot, Washington got the rebound, hustled down in transition and, sure enough, the ball found its way to a trailing No. 34 at the top of the key for yet another three-ball.

Paul scored nine points in less than three minutes and assisted on another basket, making him responsible for 11 points during the Wizards’ 13-4 run to stretch the lead to nine. After the game, a reporter asked the 17-year veteran if he thought he was starting to find his rhythm from beyond the arc, and The Truth was ready with the quip of the night.

Washington Wizards v Utah Jazz

“I’m only third all-time on the three-point list, or fourth, so if you’re going to leave me open, I’m going to continue to shoot it,” he said with a laugh.

He continues to narrow the gap on former teammate Jason Terry for third place and currently sits just six makes behind The Jet.

Paul then took a seat on the bench for the remainder of the third and first half of the fourth period, re-entering with 5:52 remaining and his team up by six.

By that point, Wall had found a rhythm and was knocking down midrange jumpers left and right. The game was a back-and-forth affair for the next five minutes or so, though the Jazz narrowed the lead to two after forward Gordon Hayward took over. The Wizards made numerous costly errors in the final minutes and turned it over seven times in the fourth period, including two in the final 20.3 seconds.

After Hayward drained a pair of free throws, the cool and collected No. 34 went to the line for a pair of his own, which he calmly knocked down to push Washington’s lead back up to four.

Hayward then scored on a slick alley-oop off an inbounds pass, then Wall lost track of the ensuing inbounds pass and gave the ball right back to Utah. With his team down by two, Hayward passed on the tie and went for the lead when Paul gave him space on a deep three. The three clanged off the rim and Wall secured the rebound, got fouled and hit the free throws.

“I knew as soon as it left my hand, I didn’t think it was good,” Hayward told reporters about his final shot. “I kind of rushed it a little bit. I didn’t think I had as much space as I had, I hit

[Pierce] with the jab and he backed off. Like I said, it’s a learning experience. Next time I’ll know what to do and I can be better.”

After Wall’s free throws, Hayward began sprinting up the court in hopes for a miracle, but No. 34 again took a risk, reached in, swiped the ball from the rising Jazz star and sealed the victory.

NEXT UP

The Wizards continue their difficult four-game Western Conference road trip with a visit to Staples Center to take on the Los Angeles Clippers Friday night.

The matchup against the 44-25 Clippers is the second of the four-game trip, and it should be a serious test for the young Wizards. Los Angeles will benefit from the return of star forward Blake Griffin, who missed a month and a half with an elbow injury.

Paul will be matched up with Hedo Turkoglu, a 14-year veteran who turned 36 on Thursday, who is enjoying something of a career revival in L.A. He will be coming off his best game of the season, in which he scored 19 points on 12 shots in a victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Despite the powerful opponents remaining in the trip, including the Clippers and Golden State Warriors, The Truth said the Wizards got a huge boost from the win in Utah.

“It should build our confidence going into [the rest of the trip], because this is a tough road trip,” he said. “It doesn’t get any easier. You’ve got the Los Angeles Clippers, who’ve been playing well, you look on the back end and you’ve got Golden State and Sacramento. You can’t never look past them with the players they have and they play well at home. So it’s a tough road trip, but it’s important to get the first win.”

Friday’s game is scheduled for a 10:30 p.m. ET tip and can be seen locally on Comcast Sports Net.

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