In just a matter of two days, Paul Pierce showed the type of leadership impact he can have with the Washington Wizards—even when he isn’t at the top of his game.

The Wizards started their weekend road back-to-back with an ugly loss to the Eastern Conference’s hottest team thus far, the Toronto Raptors. After the 103-84 loss Friday night, The Truth came away preaching defensive improvement.

“We just didn’t come out with the right mindset on defense tonight,” Paul said Friday night. “As the game wore on in the first quarter, I thought our offense dictated how we played defense. No matter how bad we’re shooting the ball — I thought we had good looks early — we’ve got to be constant on the defensive end. We didn’t come out with playoff intensity, and obviously they did. They were ready from the jump.”

Indiana Pacers v Washington Wizards

The next night out against the Indiana Pacers, the Wiz heeded their veteran leader’s call to action and tightened up defensively in a 97-90 victory. Paul had a rough weekend on the offensive end individually, tallying a combined 20 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in the two games, but he was happy to see his team not only improve its defensive play in Game 2, but also notch a victory in the process.

“I’m not really worried about it,” Paul said. “The most important thing at the end of the day is to win the game. Regardless of how I’m shooting, I know I’ll turn it around.”

COLD NIGHT IN CANADA

Washington Wizards v Toronto Raptors

As Paul said, the young Raptors came out with fire early in what has been the biggest Eastern Conference heat check game this season.

The two squads entered each at 4-1, but it was all Toronto early. The Wizards didn’t make it onto the scoreboard until Paul knocked down a 17-foot jumper at the 8:42 mark.

The Truth received a not-so-warm welcome from the Toronto crowd. The last time he took the floor at the Air Canada Centre while still with the Brooklyn Nets, he ended the team’s season. No. 34 blocked a Kyle Lowry shot attempt to eliminate the Raptors in the waning seconds of Game 7 of opening round of the playoffs, capping what was a very heated series.

Additionally, the last time the Wizards played the Raptors, they defeated them on their home court in a marathon triple-overtime classic. Not surprisingly, the raucous crowd didn’t show much empathy while Paul and Co. were off to a slow start. Meanwhile, the Raptors players, sporting purple throwback uniforms, didn’t wait around either, building a 28-18 lead through one.

Firing up the crowd even further, The Truth pulled down an offensive rebound early in the game and inadvertently caught Lowry in the head with his elbow. The whole scene created a tense atmosphere up north.

In the second quarter, the home team took that emotion and ran with it. Behind strong play from its bench and big nights out of starters DeMar DeRozan, Terrance Ross and Kyle Lowry, the Raptors turned that 10-point first-quarter lead into a 24-point advantage at halftime.

As Paul said after the game, allowing the Raptor offense to run wild was problem No. 1 for the Wizards.

“We’re a defensive team first,” Pierce said. “We won last game and we didn’t shoot well, but our defense held us down. So I’m more concerned with that right now.”

Washington Wizards v Toronto Raptors

After the break, Paul and the Wizards did their best to remedy the issues, knowing that it’d take an incredible effort ton both sides of the ball to overcome such a deficit. Even while things weren’t going his way, No. 34 fought to keep Washington in the game. Between plays and during timeouts, he was constantly yelling words of encouragement to his teammates, at all times one of the most vocal players on the court.

Then, midway through the third quarter, The Truth sparked his team to an 8-3 run and silenced the ACC crowd with a miraculous four-point play.

Despite that offensive outburst, D.C. just didn’t have enough on the defensive end to complete both sides of its comeback. The Raptors closed the game out strongly on the offensive end to ice what Washington coach Randy Wittman called an “old-fashioned butt-whooping.”

The Wizards shot just 36 percent and none of their starters eclipsed double figures scoring. As The Truth told reporters after the game, Washington was just flat-out beaten in Toronto.

“This game was to see who was going to be in first place early in the season and they were more ready than us mentally and physically on both ends of the court,” Paul said. “So we just have to take a mental note of this and understand what type of level we have to play at when we come on the road against a team that’s going to be one of the top teams in the East as we are, and we have to be ready from the jump.”

CHANGE OF PACE

Paul was visibly upset in the locker room after his team’s defeat to the Raptors when he called for his team to be ready as soon as the clock started in Indiana. And right from that opening tip, it was clear that the Wizards heard The Truth’s message.

Washington Wizards v Indiana Pacers

In the first quarter, the Wiz dominated on both sides of the ball, outscoring the Pacers 32-14. Nene Hilario alone outscored the home team, tallying 15 points, including two from the baseline off a feed from Paul.

After shooting 30.8 percent in the first quarter Friday night, the Wizards nearly doubled that, hitting 58.3 percent of its shots in the first 12 minutes Saturday. As point guard John Wall said afterward, that hot start set the tone for a much smoother night all around.

“Making shots early on gets you going,” Wall said. “I don’t care if you opened a barn up, we couldn’t make a shot yesterday.”

The Wizards cooled off a bit in the second, but they were buoyed by a nice mid-range jumper from The Truth, as well as nine points from Rasual Butler off the bench. That, coupled with another strong defensive frame, gave them a 19-point advantage going into the half. The Pacers shot just 37.8 percent in the first 24 compare to 51.1 percent by the Wiz.

Though The Truth’s shooting woes continued he turned in eight of his 12 points from the free-throw line off 10 attempts. He did a little bit of everything in the game, pulling in five rebounds and doling out three assists.

Additionally, his sheer presence commanded respect from Indy, as the Pacers routinely double-team him throughout the game, which Paul exploited to get his teammates open baskets. On the other side of the ball, his teammates had just as much faith in his abilities, as they continued to feed their veteran swingman the ball throughout the game.

“He’s just in a tough stretch, but he’s a veteran guy that knows how to get out of them slumps,” Wall said of The Truth. “And my job is to keep giving the ball in the right spots and right situations and try to give them the easy ones to get themselves at the free-throw line or layup. I know he knows what to do to get out of those slumps, but he does other things to help this team win even when he’s not having a good scoring night.”

Washington Wizards v Indiana Pacers

The Pacers came out strong after the half. Behind Solomon Hill, who finished with a game-high 28 points, cut the deficit to just eight before the fourth. The Wizards shot a solid 47 percent in the quarter, but they were abused on the boards, allowing the home team to tally 10 second-chance points.

As a result, the Wizards found themselves in a battle on the road in the fourth. With his offensive game wavering, Paul turned to defense and details to help close out the game. In the final 1:30, with Indiana still well within reach, Paul made the veteran plays and took care of the minutia.

He tracked down two Indiana misses — especially important given Washington’s struggles allowing offensive rebounds — and nailed four free throws in the final 21 seconds to seal the deal for the Wizards.

A big topic after the game and in practice in the days after the weekend set has been Paul’s offensive struggles. However, while the media is making a mess of the situation, The Truth isn’t worried at all.

“It’s not hard at all for me,” Paul said after practice Monday. “I don’t even think about the last shots. I just continue to play. I feel like the next one’s always going to go in. I never get discouraged. I don’t lose confidence. That’s just me. It’s made me who I am today.”

He can also take solace knowing that his teammates and coaches have his back. In addition to his point guard backing him up, Paul also received the vote of confidence from his head coach.

“Everybody goes through it,” Wittman said. “If we can continue to give him those shots, I’m going to be pretty happy.”

NEXT UP

Paul and the Wizards have an extended break for the first time all season, with their next game coming on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons.

That game will mark the start of a 4-game homestand for Washington that is spread out over nine days, wrapping up with a showdown against the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers.

The game against Detroit starts at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast locally on Comcast Sports Net.

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