Paul Pierce has led a career that has been anything but ordinary, so when he passed “The Logo,” Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West, for 17th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list Tuesday night, it made sense the historic moment came on an unorthodox shot.

Early in the third quarter, with his team locked in a 41-41 tie with the visiting Atlanta Hawks, The Truth backed down on the left edge of the lane, stepped back toward the free-throw line and launched a shot that hit hard against the back iron. The ball bounced several feet straight up into the air before floating straight back down, striking the iron once more and dropping softly through the net.

The shot briefly gave the Wizards a lead in the third, but Atlanta battled back to lead after three and despite a furious comeback from a 14-point deficit late in the game, Washington couldn’t quite give The Truth a happy ending to his milestone night.

Atlanta Hawks v Washington Wizards

Paul put up 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and a block. With 25,202 points in his career, Paul is now 77 points behind Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller for No. 16 all-time. No. 34 is also fourth among active players in scoring, behind only Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and former teammate Kevin Garnett.

HAWKS SWIPE LATE VICTORY

The game was a sloppy one from the start for the Wizards.

D.C. turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 18 points for the Hawks. Seven of those turnovers came in the crucial fourth quarter, leading to nine points for Atlanta.

As Washington guard Bradley Beal commented afterward, that was the difference in the 106-102 loss.

“It’s really our turnovers. I think our defense was solid,” Beal said. “I mean, we had a few breakdowns here and there but they didn’t really kill us, necessarily. We were still in the game—we only lost by four. We still had opportunities to win the game. We still had opportunities to execute. On offense, we’ve got to limit our turnovers as much as possible and try to get shots up each time down the floor.”

It was an uncharacteristically sloppy performance for the Wizards, whose 20 giveaways marked a season-high and were well above their season average. Head coach Randy Wittman tried to decipher what happened afterward, and surmised that one mistake simply led to another for his squad.

“Yeah, that was about as bad as we could play offensively, for whatever reason,” Wittman said. “We were trying to do too much: over-dribbling, the ball is sticking, predetermining no matter what the defense is going to do, and we just get in trouble like that. It was just trying to do too much, by everybody.”

Atlanta Hawks v Washington Wizards

Aside from the sloppy play, the game between the two Eastern Conference playoff contenders went about as expected. The lead changed hands 14 times, and the teams were tied on eight occasions.

The Wizards were strong defensively in the first half, holding the Hawks to just 36.6 percent shooting, though they only shot 35 percent themselves. Point guard John Wall continued his breakout season with 13 first-half points and six rebounds.

After the break, the two squads—which both currently sit in the top four of the East—made some deft offensive adjustments and picked up the pace in the second half. Paul turned in four points in the third, including his milestone bucket to move past West. Washington’s shooting percentage jumped 10 percent in the process.

However, Atlanta stayed right with them behind a big night from Jeff Teague. The ATL point guard had nine points in the third and finished with a game-high 28 to outduel Wall, who ended up with 21 points, 13 dimes and seven boards. Thanks to Teague, the Hawks took a 68-67 lead into the final frame.

The Wizards held a 73-70 lead with 9:23 left in the game, but as the Atlanta bench heated up — led by Shelvin Mack and Mike Scott — Atlanta went on a 12-0 run, much of which came while No. 34 watched from the bench. The reserve duo combined for 20 points in the fourth quarter alone.

With the pace as fast as it had been all game, The Truth began to shine late, as he often does. Paul tied Beal for a team-high eight points in the final quarter, and the Wiz shot 54.5 percent as a team.

Shortly after re-entering the game, Paul knocked down a conventional three-point play off a setup from Wall. The big play seemed like it could be the start of a momentum swing for the Wizards, but over the next 1:36, Washington missed all four of their shots and committed two turnovers and two fouls.

During that same stretch, Atlanta scored six more points and took a 14-point lead with just four minutes remaining.

With 20 seconds to go, The Truth drained a deep 27-foot three to cut the Atlanta lead to six.

Drew Gooden knocked down another triple to slice the deficit to four, and with just two seconds to go, Paul added another bucket to keep the Wizards alive and down by just two. However, Mack knocked down two free-throws in the closing seconds to seal the four-point win.

NO NENE

Atlanta Hawks v Washington Wizards

The Wizards were forced to play on Tuesday without a key player on both ends of the floor: forward Nene Hilario. Kris Humphries started in his place, but Nene’s absence changed how the team operated from top to bottom, as Wall attested after the game.

“When you go small like that, and you have a bunch of big men who can shoot the ball so they are basically spacing the court and in certain situations we had to switch…and those guards were just attacking and getting to the foul line,” Wall said. “We have to do a better job communicating.”

Paul moved to the No. 4 power forward position, and has commented that he is ready to bring his versatility to that role if needed. Nene’s diagnosis is plantar fasciitis, a tricky and painful injury that could leave him out for some time.

“I spread the defense with my shooting and I can put the ball on the floor and make plays. That makes it difficult when you got 4-men matching up,” Paul said. “They have to run out to the perimeter. They’re not used to coming out to deep waters as I like to call it, where the sharks are. … I can rebound like a 4-man. I can do different things normal 4s can’t. … Coming in to the season coach said that (might happen). I said I’m ready to play whatever position.”

NEXT UP

Paul and the Wizards (9-4) travel to Cleveland for a rematch with the Cavaliers (6-7) on Wednesday. Behind Paul’s defense on LeBron James and Wall’s scoring, the Wizards beat Cleveland 91-78 on Nov. 21 in Washington.

With the short turnaround, the Wizards won’t have time to dwell on their mistakes, as they look to take on a team that is equally in need of a victory.

“Just have to let it go, man, that’s all we can do,” Beal said. “You can’t dwell on it because you got another tough team that’s going to come at you in less than 24 hours so we got to be mentally prepared and really have amnesia and move on.”

Since their last meeting, the Cavs have gone 1-1; On Saturday, the Toronto Raptors mounted an impressive comeback to win in Cleveland, then James and the Cavs responded Monday with a 106-74 trouncing of the Orlando Magic.

In the decade-long rivalry between Paul and LeBron, Paul’s team has come out on top 33 times to LeBron’s 32.

Paul will look to widen that gap when the Wiz and the Cavs tip-off at 7 p.m. EST from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

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