One of Paul Pierce’s premier goals upon joining the Washington Wizards was to instill a culture of success and toughness in D.C.—and he wasted no time doing just that.

Emotions ran high in Washington’s first preseason contest against the Chicago Bulls, a team often regarded as one of the most physical in all the NBA. But after four hard-fought quarters, the Wizards emerged with a 85-81 victory on the road.

Washington Wizards v Chicago Bulls

Afterward, The Truth, who was involved in a shoving match with Joakim Noah in the first quarter—one of a few boiling points of the night—talked about the budding rivalry between the Wiz and the Bulls.

“That’s just the tension between these two teams that’s kind of now carrying over to this year I feel like. I’m a part of it now,” Paul said. “Even when I was with the Celtics, that’s how I was with them.”

Paul has become quite familiar with the Bulls over the years, clashing with them countless times while in Boston and Brooklyn. Meanwhile, the upstart D.C. club he is now a part of is also very accustomed to physical battles with the Bulls.

“That lets you know what to expect in the four times in the regular season, it may get a lot worse than that,” Wall said of the physical preseason tilt. “I think it’s a rivalry just because of how we played in the postseason last year, and especially Derrick being back, we added Paul… you could tell we were about to brawl out there a few times, that lets you know what type of rivalry this is about to be. I think it will be an intense one, two physical teams that want to play defense to dictate the game.”

Washington Wizards v Chicago Bulls

In his first game in a Wizards uniform, Paul scored two points and pulled down seven rebounds in just shy of 20 minutes on the floor at the United Center in Chicago. But he both entered and left the game preaching defense above all else.

“One-on-one defense, that wins defensive awards, but team defense wins championships,” The Truth said. “Coach understands defense wins championships. The offense — we’ll figure it out eventually.”

The Wizards did struggle offensively, notching just 85 points off 41.1 percent shooting. However, they held the Bulls to just 33.8 percent shooting from the floor and limited Chicago to less than 20 points in the final two frames.

Washington Wizards v Chicago Bulls

Much of that came after a physical opening frame—and it was Paul setting the tone.

Just five minutes into the game, No. 34 was called for a hard foul in the open floor on Chicago’s Jimmy Butler near the Bulls bench. Immediately afterward, a shoving match between Paul and Chicago’s physical enforcer, Noah, ensued and ended with The Truth poking the Bulls big man on the forehead. Paul said after the game that it was something that just happened in the heat of the moment.

“It’s good for TV, I guess,” Paul said. “I don’t know what to say. It just happened. It’s not scripted, but it just happened.”

Fans and media members were stunned to see such intense physical play in a preseason game, but several of Paul’s teammates were happy to see the new Wizard set the tone early.

Last week, center DeJuan Blair stated the Wizards’ intentions of being a bruising team a la the Detroit Pistons of old, declaring that the “Bad Boys is back.” Later in Monday night’s game, Washington center Kevin Seraphin followed suit with a hard screen at midcourt. Butler ran up the floor in defense of Wall but didn’t see Seraphin, slammed into the 6-10, 278-pound big man and crashed to the hardwood.

The contest teetered back-and-forth throughout, with neither team taking a lead greater than eight points.

Washington Wizards v Chicago Bulls

In the closing stages, an impressive scoring flurry from Wizards guard Glen Rice Jr. spurred the squad to victory.

The second-year shooting guard played sparingly last year, but led all comers with 18 points on Monday—a career-high. He scored or assisted on 14 points in the final frame alone.

While Paul’s offensive output wasn’t what he hoped for in game No. 1, he is still confident that his own production will come around, as will that of the entire Wizards squad.

“I had a chance to watch some film, based on what they did last year,” Paul said of his new team. “I watched a lot of how Trevor (Ariza) scored in this system. I see myself being similar to that. I think I have a little more versatility to my game. I add a little more to it, to where maybe I can play a little stretch four, or come off a down screen or pick and roll, instead of just being a spot-up shooter. I can do that also. But I just have more versatility in my game that I can use. And be a threat down the stretch, whether I have the ball or not. Teams are going to pay attention to me.”

NEXT UP

The Wizards will continue their postseason slate Wednesday, Oct. 8 against the New Orleans Pelicans. The game is set for a 7 p.m. ET tip from Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.

RELATED ARTICLES