Paul Pierce joined the Washington Wizards in the offseason with one goal in mind: To help the budding young team make a strong playoff run.
While the Wiz ultimately saw their season end before they would’ve liked, the campaign was a thrilling one for the D.C. squad—and it was highlighted by some vintage production from The Truth.
As an NBA champion and future Hall of Famer, The Truth showed the team affectionately dubbed the “Wiz Kids” how to win, and how to do it with professionalism and tenacity. And as one of the league’s all-time great offensive weapons, he put the team on his back and carried it to victory more than once.
Early in the season, Paul and the Wizards were looking like one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. They stormed out to a 22-9 record before the New Year and were 16 games above .500 at 31-15 in late January. However, they didn’t stay hot all year long.
Washington slumped through February, losing 11 of 13. After that cold spell, the Wiz picked back up in March with a five-game win streak, and they later came through with a four-game spurt in April to secure the No. 5 seed in the East. Their 46 wins were the most for the franchise since the 1978-79 season.
Through the year, Paul recorded career lows in most statistical categories, as he allowed young guards John Wall and Bradley Beal take the lead roles. But when the playoffs arrived, No. 34 became the go-to option as if he were still 27, rather than a 37-year-old veteran.
First came the conference semifinals against the fourth seeded Toronto Raptors—the same team Paul faced last year with the Brooklyn Nets in the first round. In that series a year ago, The Truth made enemies with the Raptor fan base, and the series culminated with Paul’s last second block on Kyle Lowry in Game 7, which ended Toronto’s season.
Ahead of this year’s tilt with the Raps, Paul told the media that he wasn’t worried about the team from up north—that they didn’t have that “it” factor needed to be dangerous in the postseason. This infuriated the Toronto fanbase, but Paul backed it up.
He tallied 20 points in Game 1, sparking a four-game sweep by Washington. The series was never really close. The Wiz won the four games by an average margin of 15.5 points.
The East semifinals against the No. 1 seeded Atlanta Hawks, was bound to be much more difficult. Once again, though, No. 34 started strong in a D.C. win. In Round 2’s Game 1, The Truth tallied 19 points to fuel a 104-98 road victory. Atlanta turned around and evened the series at one, setting the stage for an incredible finish.
The ball was in The Truth’s hands in crunch time in each of the team’s final four games, and he drilled the shot three of those times.
Unfortunately for Paul and the Wizards, only one of those actually led to a victory. In Game 3 at home, The Truth banked home a fallaway 21-footer to give the Wiz a 103-101 win and a 2-1 series lead. Afterward, he was still a bit in shock, relishing in that big shot, one of many in his long career.
“I’m still soaking it up,” Paul said, “because I don’t have too many more of these left.”
He made that statement with a long-term outlook in mind, and it was a statement that was oddly both right and wrong. He had plenty of big opportunities and big shots left just in this series, but the game-winner didn’t happen again.
In Game 4, Paul launched but missed a game-tying three out of a timeout with less than 10 seconds to go. Atlanta went on to win 106-101 to tie the series back up.
Then back in ATL for Game 5, Paul was on the money. He splashed a triple from the corner to give D.C. an 81-80 lead with 8.3 seconds left. However, that proved to be too much time. On the other end, Al Horford registered the game-winning bucket to put the Wiz on the brink of elimination.
When the series returned to Washington for Game 6, The Truth knocked down one of the most magnificent clutch shots of his career. With the clock ticking and a defender in his face, Paul buried a turnaround triple from the corner to tie the game at 94 as the buzzer sounded. The only problem: that ticking clock. Upon review, it was revealed that the ball left The Truth’s hand just a split second after the clock hit zeroes. The basket was waived off, and Washington’s season was over.
When that final bell sounded, it was a gut-wrenching ending for a Wizards squad that was just a few bounces of the ball away from advancing to the East Finals, where The Truth would’ve faced a longtime rival in LeBron James.
Despite the unfortunate exit, Paul had nothing but compliments for the team that adopted and embraced him for one of the final chapters of his storied career.
“I’m just proud of these guys, the way they fought, the spirit they had all year long. I said it earlier, this franchise is definitely headed in the right direction as far as gathering respect in the near future. Because a lot of years people didn’t respect the Washington Wizards. But I think now, what people saw this year and moving forward with the young nucleus here, this is going to be a franchise to reckon with in the near future, if not next year.”
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