Wiz Split With Nets

A weekend home-and-home back-to-back with Paul Pierce’s former team, the Brooklyn Nets showed the The Truth and Washington Wizards both what they are capable of and how far they have yet to go to reach their true potential.

Washington entered the weekend confident coming off perhaps their best two-game stretch of the season, which featured wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls. But on Friday night in D.C., those feelings were quickly deflated the Wiz came out flat, and were thumped 102-80 by a Brooklyn squad that had lost seven straight. It was a result The Truth hoped would be a wake-up call.

“Tonight is over with and we have to bounce back tomorrow,” he said after Friday night’s loss. “Everybody is disappointed in the way we came out, maybe this will be a wake-up call for the rest of the year.”

Washington responded with a better effort in what Paul called a “must-win” on Saturday night in Brooklyn and walked away from the Barclays Center with a much needed 99-90 victory.

The Wizards offense awoke from their Friday night slumber (42.5 percent shooting, 19 turnovers) to overwhelm the Nets on Saturday (51.9 %, 13 TO), But in Paul’s eyes, Washington’s quick turnaround was based in the adjustments they made to play better defense in the second meeting between the two teams in a 24-hour span.

“It was our defense,” Paul said, identifying the difference from Friday to Saturday. “When our defense is getting stops and we’re rebounding and getting them out of their offense, we’re tough. Sometimes we don’t score the ball well, but we can rely on our defense. When we’re consistent in that area, rebound the ball and not turn it over, we’re a tough team to beat.”

The two-game series against his former team wasn’t the most prolific offensive stretch for The Truth. Paul put up eight points to go along with six rebounds, two steals and an assist in the loss on Friday, then followed it up with seven points, four rebounds and an assist in the win. Though the scoring totals were a bit below his average this season, he did knock down two big threes in each game to help swing the momentum in Washington’s favor.

Though he and the rest of the Wizards struggled offensively, No. 34 did everything else he could to help the team earn a victory, which included providing outstanding defense on former teammate Joe Johnson in both games, holding the seven-time All-Star to a combined 8-of-28 shooting for the weekend.

Johnson tallied just six points on Friday night at the Verizon Center, but Jarrett Jack and Brook Lopez shouldered the load. Jack went off for 26 points, and Lopez matched him with 26 more off the bench.

Washington was also undone by their carelessness with the ball, to the tune of 19 turnovers, which resulted in 16 easy points for the Nets. The Wiz tallied just four more assists (23) than possessions they gave away.

“We just didn’t take care of the ball,” Paul said. “Usually when we’re a high-turnover team, the results end up like they did tonight. But when we have at least a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, we usually win. That’s been the story with us all year long. We have to do a better job taking care of the ball and making extra passes… But give credit where credit is due, Brooklyn was a good team tonight.”

After the crushing loss, The Truth had some tough words for his team, but he made it clear that Washington should be able to bounce back if they played with energy and took their opponent seriously. He noted Brooklyn’s long losing streak and the Wizards’ overconfidence following their wins over San Antonio and Chicago as contributing factors to their poor effort on their home floor Friday.

“We had a desperate team with a seven-game losing streak. We’re coming off two impressive wins, that’s fine, but in order for us to take the next step, these are games we have to win,” Paul said. “There’s no excuse. We didn’t match their energy, they played like a team desperate for a win. We didn’t play like a team that wanted to take the next step and be an elite team. Tonight was a step back and that’s all there is to it.”

Looking to respond to that message, Washington got off to another sluggish start on Saturday, but Paul and the Wizards endured the early adversity, bounced back and took a step forward on the way to the victory.

In doing so, D.C. showed improvement all across the board.

In addition to spiking their shooting percentage and erasing a number of turnovers, they took over the boards, holding a 49-40 advantage. They were outscored in the paint 46-34 Friday, but turned around and evened up the numbers inside, matching Brooklyn’s 40 points down low.

While the Wiz improved, they still found themselves trailing by one at the break, 51-50. They were on pace to give up 100-plus points yet again, which is generally a poor formula for victory for Paul and Co. However, over the final two quarters, the Wizards regrouped and gave up just 39 points to turn the tables and escape with a win.

“I thought after the half we did a good job defensively,” Paul said. “We settled in and were able to get stops. And we didn’t turn over the ball as much as we did the night before.”

Quizzed after the pair of games on which performance was more indicative of where the Wizards currently stand at midseason, The Truth said Friday’s game was the exception, while Saturday’s performance was closer to the standard that the Wizards have set this season.

“We’re definitely a team on the rise,” Paul, who is never satisfied until he’s earned a ring, said after the win. “We’re still a work in progress. Where we are now is not where we want to be when the end of the season comes, when we expect to be peaking, probably after the All-Star break. I know we can get a whole lot better than we are today.”

BOSTON BROTHERS

Paul was matched up over the weekend with a player whom he hasn’t played against in more than eight years, but a man he is very familiar with: Kevin Garnett.

The Truth and The Big Ticket claimed an NBA title together with the Boston Celtics, then both headed to Brooklyn in a trade last season. Paul’s free agent move from Brooklyn to Washington broke up the long-time partnership, but after facing his former teammate twice in 24 hours, No. 34 identified the two games as a fun experience for both players and known trash talkers.

“It was fun playing against an old teammate of mine in Kevin on back to back nights,” The Truth said of KG. “We had some laughter there, a little chitter chatter. We’re brothers, we’re always going to be brothers.”

NEXT UP

After their weekend back-to-back Paul and the Wizards (28-13) jump right back into action on Monday with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee against the Philadelphia 76ers (8-32) in D.C.

This will mark the first time the Wizards and 76ers will meet this year, though it will be far from the last; they play each other four times in total, including two times in the final two weeks of the season.

Washington catches Philadelphia on a bit of an uptick as four of the team’s eight total wins have come in their last eight games, including wins against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New Orleans Pelicans. The 76ers continue to reside near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, but the up-and-coming squad seems to finally be developing some chemistry and, like Brooklyn, is a team that Washington can’t take for granted.

Tip-off of the special holiday matinee, a rare weekday afternoon game at the Verizon Center, is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and the game will be shown locally on Comcast Sports Net.

RELATED LINKS

• Wizards get routed at home by Nets (ESPN, January 16, 2015)
• Paul Pierce postgame interview (Monumental Network, January 16, 2015)
• Wizards get revenge, beat Nets in Brooklyn (ESPN, January 17, 2015)
• Paul Pierce postgame interview (Monumental Network, January 17, 2015)
• Paul Pierce on return to Brooklyn (Monumental Network, January 16, 2015)
• Pierce and Garnett going head-to-head for first time since 2007 (ESPN, January 16, 2015)
• Pierce fitting in well in D.C. (The Washington Post, January 16, 2015)