Paul Pierce and the Washington Wizards stuck with the Miami Heat for 45 minutes on Wednesday night, but some red-hot shooting by the Heat in the final three minutes proved too much for the shorthanded Wizards.

Despite the 107-95 loss, Paul had a strong and balanced game in his Wizards debut, finishing with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in 33 minutes.

“We had opportunities all game long,” he said. “When we cut it to two, we needed a good possession and we either turned it over or they got an offensive rebound or hit a tough shot. It’s something we’ve got to learn from.”

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The Truth came out strong in his regular season debut for the Wizards.

He knocked down a three on Washington’s first possession of the game, then followed it up with a rebound and layup to put his new squad up 5-4 early.

Later in the frame, he pumped and spun past defender Loul Deng to knock down a mid-range jumper.

Shortly after, Paul dished on a Marcin Gortat dunk to help the Wiz capture a 28-22 lead at the end of one.

Throughout the game, No. 34 came through when his team was struggling while doing everything he could to put points on the board and help his teammates find their rhythm. The Heat battled back early in the second while Paul rested, but he returned a few minutes into the frame and quickly went to work, dishing on a pair of Drew Gooden jumpers, a long two and a three.

Though No. 34 just turned 37 this month, he looked half that at times against Miami. He was up and down the court all night, often the first or second Wizard in front on the fast break or hustling back on defense. He was not only as physically impressive as he was in his younger days, but he showed that his passion for the game clearly hasn’t gone anywhere.

At the 3:39 mark of the second quarter, point guard John Wall took a perfect outlet pass from Gortat, then fed The Truth, who finished the fast break with an emphatic driving flush.

As the first half rolled on, No. 34 kept the Heat guessing. He knocked down another short jumper of his own, again off a feed from Wall, then facilitated again as he fed Gooden on another mid-range bucket.

Going into the half, the Heat held a 53-52 lead.

After the break, the Pierce-Gooden connection continued. Just a minute and 38 seconds into the second half, Paul found Gooden for a mid-range jumper to put Washington up 57-55.

Then the Wizards hit a wall. Washington squandered consecutive scoring opportunities and allowed Miami to establish a 7-0 run that included two offensive rebounds and an open layup for the Heat.

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Head Coach Randy Wittman called a timeout to talk things over and give his team a moment that settled the Miami crowd. Coming out of the timeout, the Wizards ran a play for Paul, who drove hard to the hoop for a layup and drew the foul. He knocked down the free throw to bring the Wizards back within two, and just like that, the Wizards were off on a 9-2 run.

Of course, the Heat know The Truth, and the double teams he often drew showed how much teams still respect Paul’s offensive prowess. However, Paul has been drawing double teams almost his entire career, and his new teammates are starting to see how much he can help them get easy offense.

For that reason, it was often a lose-lose for the Heat when covering Paul; when they didn’t put two defenders on him, No. 34 made them pay, showing Miami and the rest of the NBA that he still can play at an elite level. And when they did, he made brilliant passes that allowed his teammates to score.

Ultimately, it was the minutia that did Washington in.

That lack of focus was evident on one play toward the end of the third quarter when Paul and Dwyane Wade got tangled up hustling for a loose ball. Wade hurt his leg on the play, so much so that he didn’t even make an attempt on the ensuing jump ball.

Paul won the jump easily, but after tapping the ball back toward his teammates, there seemed to be a miscommunication and the Heat somehow managed to grab the loose ball — a crucial error in a game that was tied at the time. From there, Miami took a two-point lead into the final frame.

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In the fourth, Paul and the Wizards stayed within striking distance of the home team for much of the frame. It was a Pierce free throw that cut the Heat lead to one just shy of the five-minute mark.

However, during the closing stages of the game, Miami was simply unstoppable on the offensive end. Over the final 5:11 of the game, the Heat scored an incredible 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting; conversely, Washington scored just 12 points on 2-of-6 shooting in that stretch.

Missing two big men to suspension and three wings to injury, Washington’s bench contributions were sparse. Paul admitted that his team missed its absentees, but lamented the team’s overall effort down the stretch, particularly on the defensive end.

“They would have helped, but that’s no excuse,” The Truth said. “I think we’ve got enough guys that could’ve gotten the job done tonight. It’s definitely a game we could’ve won. You’ve got to expect their intensity, you’ve got to expect them to come out with a playoff-type atmosphere, I mean, it’s their home opener and when they throw a punch we’ve got to be able to take it and throw one right back. I think we just kind of let our guard down out there in the fourth quarter when the game was in the balance.”

Wittman also wouldn’t use the five players missing from his rotation as an excuse for the loss. The coach noted that the Wiz had plenty of quality players on the court and instead blamed the loss on poor defense and a lack of focus.

“We had every opportunity to win this game. Every opportunity,” Wittman said. “A lack of concentration and focus, that’s what it boils down to. That can’t happen, especially on opening night.”

The Wizards, who struggled all of last season shooting free throws, went just 17-of-24 from the line on Wednesday, including four misses from the stripe in the fourth quarter. Miami, on the other hand, made 20-of-23 attempts from the line in the game.

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D.C. also lost the battle of the boards 44-36, and 12 of Miami’s 44 boards came off the offensive glass. Without starting power forward Nene Hilario and one of his top backups, DeJuan Blair, Washington was at a disadvantage.

Both Nene and Blair will be back for Thursday night’s game.

“We’ve got to do a better job of establishing our identity,” The Truth said. “We allowed too many layups. They got every loose ball. They outrebounded us. That team is not known for their rebounding so there’s no way they should outrebound us. No way we should give up as many layups as we did, especially there in the fourth quarter.”

NEXT UP

The Wizards (0-1) open the season with a back-to-back, which involves a trip up the state of Florida to take on the Orlando Magic (0-1) at the Amway Center on Thursday night.

While Paul was certainly disappointed by the result in his D.C. debut, he is glad to have an immediate chance for redemption.

“The good thing about the NBA is you get a chance to bounce back tomorrow night like we can,” Paul said. “So we’ve got to learn from it, but we’ve got to be better defensively, especially in the fourth quarter.”

Last season, Paul played in three of the Nets’ four meetings with the Magic, and helped his squad to a 2-1 record in those contests. Meanwhile, the Wizards won all four of their games against the Magic.

Thursday night’s tilt is set to begin at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast locally on Comcast SportsNet.

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