Paul Pulls Wiz Past Kings

The Washington Wizards brought Paul Pierce to D.C. to be a difference-maker and as the season approaches its final month, The Truth is giving the Wiz exactly what they were seeking in more ways than one.

Generally speaking this season, Paul as done most of his leading behind the scenes, but over the last two games, with consecutive 17-point performances, he’s started to stand out on the court. On Saturday night his hot shooting, and huge third quarter effort, turned a stagnant Washington offense into a dynamic, well-oiled machine.

Facing a 21-point deficit in the third quarter, the Wizards looked out of sorts and resembled the team that lost its first five games coming out of the All Star break. But The Truth took over and sparked a massive turnaround. Over the next eight minutes and change, Paul took and made five shots, including two three-pointers, for 12 points, and his Wizards were suddenly down by just two.

After Paul’s power surge, it was all D.C., as they charged to a convincing 113-97 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

“Paul made some timely shots there early in the third to get us going,” Wizards head coach Randy Wittman said of the future Hall of Famer.

The legendary forward finished with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting in just 23 minutes to go along with three rebounds and an assist as Washington rolled to a 16-point win, despite the enormous second-half deficit. Paul did not play in the fourth quarter, but his teammates fed off his energy and ran with the momentum, turning the game into a blowout remarkably quickly.

“Usually when I’m sitting in the fourth quarter, we’re either up 20 or down 20,” Paul joked after the game.

While No. 34’s lights-out shooting swung the game in Washington’s favor, the Wizards’ defense also dramatically improved as Paul’s run began.

Sacramento went 25-for-42 in the first half for 64 points, including 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting by Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins. But the Wiz locked down on defense in the second half, and held Sacramento to just 33 points on 10-for-35 shooting. As a result of Washington’s pressure, the Kings committed 11 second-half turnovers, which the Wiz converted into 15 points.

“It was our defense for the most part,” Paul said after the game. “We defended at a higher level. There wasn’t nothing wrong with the gameplan, we said at halftime that we’ve gotta do it a little bit harder, get up on our man a little closer, challenge their shots.”

To a man, the Wizards noted after the game that they’d put forth a better effort in the second half. That led to better concentration on the defensive end and they also got by with some luck as Cousins got himself into foul trouble. But while all those things factored into Washington’s turnaround, the run also got a definitive shot in the arm when No. 34 started knocking down shots.

 

The Wizards went into halftime down 18, and early in the third, the Kings pushed the gap above 20. But Paul started the comeback just over a minute into the second half when he got to the rim for a basket to cut the deficit to 19. Washington’s next time down the court, center Marcin Gortat took Paul’s cue and hit a layup of his own. The Truth kept the run going by draining a three and just like that, in less than 90 seconds, the Wizards had cut Sacramento’ 21-point lead down to 14.

But they still had plenty of work to do and the Washington bunch got contributions from all around to make it happen. Over the few minutes that followed, D.C. point guard John Wall worked his magic, adding four points and a block to the cause. But the lead crawled back up to 17 before The Truth drained a difficult midrange jumper. The 17-year veteran followed that up with another bomb from long range, this one bringing Washington to within 12.

The Wizards were so high on Paul’s momentum that nothing seemed able to stop them, and they responded with a Kevin Seraphin layup, then a Wall three and a Seraphin midrange jumper. But afterward, No. 34 deflected credit for the one, noting that the Wizards started to see better results when their ball movement became more fluid in the second half.

“We just had to move the ball from side to side. I thought when the ball stuck, we didn’t make the extra passes, we didn’t cut hard and it evident from the tape at halftime,” he said. “But once we started doing that, our offense started flowing, and once we started playing harder, our defense kicked up.”

The Truth had one final salvo before exiting the game, when he converted a difficult pull-up jumper to bring Washington to within 79-74 in the waning minutes of the third period. He then took a seat on the bench after Wall knocked down yet another triple.

Paul’s work was done for the night, and he earned his long rest. Washington ran away with the game in the fourth, outscoring Sacramento 29-12. The Wizards outscored the Kings 67-33 in the second half when all was said and done, becoming the first team in NBA history to trail by 18 or more at halftime and win by 16 or more.

After the game, Paul didn’t draw any attention to his incredible third quarter or the Wizards’ improved shooting. Instead, he focused on the key to the Wizards season: defense. Specifically, The Truth said stopping Cousins was the biggest reason Washington was able to turn the game around.

“Our attitude changed, that was pretty much it,” he said about the halftime adjustment that held Cousins to just nine points on 1-for-6 shooting in the second half. “The gameplan was to get up on him. He came out hitting the jumpers, but we weren’t getting all up on him. But we changed the attitude and that’s all it was. We had the gameplan, we knew what we wanted to do, but it was just about going out and doing it.”

NEXT UP

The Wizards will try to prove they’ve gotten completely back on track on Monday night when they host the Portland Trail Blazers (44-20).

The Blazers are without star guard Wesley Matthews for the season due to a torn Achilles tendon, but they’ve won three of the four they’ve played since he went down and eight of their last nine overall.

The first matchup between the teams this season came back in January, a 103-96 win by the Blazers in Portland behind LaMarcus Aldridge’s 26 points. Paul put up 19 points on just 10 shots while adding six boards and two assists in that loss, but he has confidence in his Wizards for the rematch.

“Well we’re playing better, that’s the important thing,” he said after the win on Saturday night. “We’ve got to get off to better starts, most importantly, you can’t do this against the very, very good teams. But I know we’ll be up for the good teams. Sometimes it seems like we play down to the level of our opponents, but I know we’ll be ready for Portland on Monday.”

The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET tip and will be broadcast locally on Comcast Sports Net.

RELATED LINKS

• Paul Pierce sparks Wizards rally over Kings (ESPN, March 14, 2015)
• Paul Pierce postgame interview (Monumental Network, March 14, 2015)
• Gordon Hayward should model game after Paul Pierce (Hoops Habit, March 14, 2015