Paul Pierce doesn’t have to go through customs anymore.

After the Washington Wizards won the first two games of their playoff series on the road against the Toronto Raptors, The Truth pleaded for a sweep, proclaiming on his way to the locker room that he was through with making trips across the border.

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A loss at home would’ve sent the series back to Toronto, but on Sunday night, the Wiz dominated the Raps 125-94 and completed the sweep on their home court. Afterward, Paul talked about how big it is for D.C. to have finished up the series in a quick, painless four games.

“It means a lot. For one, it’s a confidence booster, to know that we can play with anybody. Two, it definitely gives us the chance for us to heal some of the injuries that we have on this ballclub,” Paul said. “Brad’s been dealing with a knee issue, John

[has] a knee issue, so it gives us extra days of rest, but at the same time, you want to try to stay sharp. … But it’s good, especially for the older guys, I guess.”

The Truth played his part in Toronto’s dismantling, dropping 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting to go with four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in just 22 minutes, and he and the Wizards ran away with the fourth and final game of the series, leading by as many as 37 points late on their way to a 31-point win in Washington.

Toronto Raptors v Washington Wizards - Game Four

It was the Wizards’ first ever sweep in a seven-game series—something that is no doubt related to the team’s offseason acquisition of No. 34.

The Truth started things off the right way for Washington, blocking Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan on a layup attempt on the first play of the game. DeRozan got his own rebound and fired up a long jumper that missed, and Paul secured the rebound. Wizards point guard John Wall drained a long jumper of his own on the following possession, and the theme of the night was set.

Washington had already taken a 14-8 lead by the time Paul anticipated an Amir Johnson pass at the top of the key, broke on it and made the interception, then took it down the length of the court and finished with a layup at the rim that was blocked by DeRozan—though the Toronto guard was whistled for goaltending.

As the 37-year-old veteran ran the one-man fastbreak to open an eight-point lead, the Verizon Center crowd began to rise to its feet to show its support for the best NBA team in the nation’s capital since the 1978-79 season.

Toronto Raptors v Washington Wizards - Game Four

It was the first time the fans got especially loud, but it was far from the last. Just three minutes later, Wall found The Truth in the corner for an open three that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, and the Wizards took a 30-18 lead.

The Wizards were 8-for-10 from the field at that point, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and 11-for-13 from the free throw line. Toronto head coach Dwane Casey was forced to call a timeout, and Paul motioned to the rabid crowd to get even louder.

Paul played to that wild crowd all night, and on numerous occasions he walked to the sideline, faced the fans and raised his arms, asking for even more noise. Each time, the raucous fans obliged more adamantly than before, and when No. 34 exited the game for the final time with more than three minutes remaining in the third period, the Verizon Center audience gave him a standing ovation.

Wizards head coach Randy Wittman took Paul out of the game after that to give the 17-year veteran a rest, then The Truth played the last 4:39 of the second period, and Washington carried a 16-point lead into halftime. It was a very balanced, team effort in earning the lead; through about 15 minutes of game time, each Wizards starter had attempted exactly three shots.

Toronto Raptors v Washington Wizards - Game Four

The Wizards were able to jump out to such an imposing first-half lead thanks to free throws and three-point shooting, two categories they absolutely dominated, as well as the early momentum boost their future Hall of Famer provided. They shot 18-for-22 from the charity stripe compared to the Raptors’ 6-for-7, and they drained six of their 11 attempts from beyond the arc while Toronto only went 4-for-15.

Paul explained after the game that Wittman moving him to the power forward position was one of the most impactful decisions of the series, and it was the biggest explanation for the Wizards’ lights-out performance from deep.

“I think it makes us extremely dangerous,” The Truth said of the lineup that features him as the second big man. “As you saw, when we’ve gone to that lineup in this series, we’ve shot more three-pointers on average in this series than we’ve done all season long. That’s just showing that we’ve opened things up more for the guards to get into the lane, penetrating, John is doing a good job, we’re swinging the ball, moving the ball, getting the ball to our shooters, and that’s why you see the increase in our three-point attempts. And also we put more three-point shooters out there. So now you not only have to worry about John penetrating, but you have to worry about the shooters, so it makes it difficult for defenses to guard.”

Toronto Raptors v Washington Wizards - Game Four

Washington finished 15-for-26 from three-point range in Game 4 after making just 6.1 per game on 16.8 attempts in the regular season. No. 34 led the charge in this game, shooting a red-hot 4-for-6 from downtown, and three of those long-range bombs came in the third period.

Coming out of halftime, The Truth made an errant pass for his first and only turnover of the game, and it led to an easy Kyle Lowry layup. Not wanting to let that give the Raptors any momentum for the second half, Paul came back on the next possession and knocked down a long three.

The Wizards got a bucket on the next trip down the court, then No. 34 canned another from deep on the following possession to push the lead to 22 and give Washington all the momentum back. Guard Bradley Beal had to force a desperation three to beat the shot clock on the next Wizards possession, but at that point, everything was going Washington’s way, and after a few bounces, that shot dropped too.

Toronto Raptors v Washington Wizards - Game Four

Toronto made a brief run midway through the third period, but the Wizards’ lockdown defense forced a handful of turnovers in a row and converted them to points, and suddenly the crowd was back in the game.

The home crowd might never have been louder than when No. 34 drained a three—his fourth of the game—in transition after a sequence of three consecutive turnovers by the two teams to put the Wizards up by 24, their largest lead of the series to that point.

Amir Johnson got to the basket to bring it back down to 22, but Wall came right back with a triple and the lead reached the 25-point mark. Paul missed on a deep three the following trip—just his second miss from beyond the arc—then came out of the game for good when Marcin Gortat went to the free throw line for a pair with the Wizards up by 24.

The Verizon Center crowd then showed its appreciation for the future Hall of Famer with an incredible standing ovation, roaring in applause as The Truth absorbed and embraced every moment. He raised his arms and beckoned for more in one of the iconic moments of the Wizards’ historic season.

It was also perhaps the best moment of Paul’s young Wizards career, the tops in a series full of them for The Truth.

The rest of Washington’s starters were gradually taken out of the game and the reserves carried the team the rest of the way, but Paul was by no means done with the game. He remained active, cheering on his teammates and encouraging the younger players despite the fact that the lead flirted with 40 points.

“Playoffs is a different game. The intensity goes up, more is on the line, and that’s when you see stars become superstars,” he said. “That’s what you saw in this series and tonight from John [Wall] and Bradley Beal.”

NEXT UP

Paul and the Wizards will take on the winner of the series between the No. 1 Atlanta Hawks and the No. 8 Brooklyn Nets in the second round, with the winner of series going to the Eastern Conference Finals.

If the Hawks, who lead 2-1 heading into Monday, win, they will have home court advantage in the series against Washington. If the Nets, whom Paul played with last season, pull off the upset, Verizon Center would host four of the seven games.

Whichever team it is, Paul is confident in this Wizards squad, telling reporters on Sunday night that he learned a lot about the team in the Raptors series.

“Just that we can sustain a mental focus over the course of a seven-game series, night in night out,” he said he realized about the young team. “We’ve had our stretches where we’re focused in the first half and then the third quarter we have lapses, and I didn’t see none of that in this series. I thought, for the most part, we played all fourth quarters throughout this series, we didn’t show the weaknesses that we showed during the regular season, and that’s a good sign. This is a great time to be playing our best basketball, and if we can continue to play like this, we’re going to be a tough team to beat.”

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The Hawks dominated the Wizards in the regular season, winning the series 3-1 but the only loss came when Atlanta had already clinched the No. 1 seed and rested four of its five starters. Washington came within four points in the first meeting back on Nov. 25, but the next two games were easy wins for the Hawks.

Brooklyn, on the other hand, split a quartet of games against the Wizards in the regular season, with three of the four games being decided by double digits. The Nets routed the Wizards in Washington in the first meeting, winning by 22 in the first of a home-and-home back-to-back, but the Wiz redid the favor with a nine-point win in Brooklyn the following night.

In the third game, Paul and the starters were each needed for fewer than 27 minutes as the Wizards routed the Nets to the tune of 114-77 at the Verizon Center, but less than three weeks ago the Nets got their revenge with a 117-80 blowout win at the Barclays Center.

“I don’t know if anybody really picked us beating Toronto in this series, especially without home court advantage,” Paul said Sunday night. “So to go out there and not only be the underdog, but to sweep them, I think it does send a message, that ‘Hey, you can’t take Washington lightly.’ We lost 3-0 to Toronto [in the regular season], we also lost [3-1] to Atlanta, and we got blown out a couple of times by Brooklyn. So either one of those teams, if we gotta see one of those teams, they’re going to see a different ballclub than they saw in the regular season.”

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