In a battle of past versus present, the present won.

On Monday night in Houston, Paul Pierce outdueled Trevor Ariza, the man he replaced in D.C., and helped his Washington Wizards to a wild 104-103 victory against the Rockets.

Washington Wizards v Houston Rockets

Paul finished with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, to go along with three rebounds, three steals, an assist and a block to help the Wizards improve to 22-8. He also held Ariza to 15 points on just 6-of-15 shooting with four turnovers.

As The Truth said just a few days earlier, the Wizards are an elite team, but this is their chance to show the rest of the league that.

“We can’t just talk about it, we have to go out there and show people,” he said. “This is only one step. Over the course of the season, we have to have key wins and this West Coast trip is a big trip for us, so maybe teams will start taking notice of the Washington Wizards.”

If he and the Wizards continue playing games like this one, even teams in the wild Western Conference are going to start taking notice sooner rather than later.

After a problem with one of the rims was noticed 48 seconds into the first quarter, the contest was delayed for about 30 minutes, and the game was rather sloppy from then on. The teams combined for seven fouls, six turnovers and 47 shot attempts in the first quarter, then they combined for another 11 turnovers in the second quarter.

The Truth started the game out very physically, constantly battling in the paint for loose balls and rebounds, and Wizards fans got a nice treat when Paul blocked Ariza’s shot just a few minutes into the first quarter.

When the Rockets took a 38-31 lead midway through the second quarter, No. 34 turned on the offense. He entered the game with 5:16 left in the half, scored on Washington’s next possession, then two possessions later drove past Patrick Beverley and hit a tough layup with contact.

A minute and 23 seconds after entering the game, he had scored five straight Wizards points and cut the deficit to four. More importantly, he keyed a furious Washington run that ended with Bradley Beal knocking down back-to-back threes to put Washington up one going into halftime.

The Truth was solid in the first half, but he stepped his play up a notch in the second half when he scored 14 points and hit all five of his shots. He came out doing a little bit of everything, even single-handedly taking a rebound the length of the court and finding a jumper for himself.

His huge third quarter was instrumental to the Wizards building an 18-point lead, but when Paul came out late in the period, the Rockets mounted a furious comeback. By the time The Truth returned to the game with 6:54 remaining, Washington was up by just five. Luckily for the Wizards, that’s when No. 34 shines.

After the Rockets managed to tie the game at 84, Paul helped start a 9-0 Wizards run to put them back in control, only to watch Houston counter with a 7-0 run of its own. After the game, Paul praised Washington’s resiliency, but he said the team needs to work on keeping a cool head and not allowing teams to get back into games, which is something the Wizards have struggled with all season.

“We didn’t rebound the ball, we turned it over and that let them back into the game,” he said. “But the good thing is we kept our composure on the road. … Some good things, a  lot of bad things, especially when you get a big lead you should be able to put a team away, especially in a back-to-back. We’re learning a lot about ourselves, we’re keeping our composure at certain points. Either way, we walked away with a win, despite the circumstance of them getting back into the game.”

Moments later, Paul did something he has done so many times in his career: He sealed the deal with a backbreaking three to put the Wizards up seven.

The three deflated the Houston crowd, pumped up the Wizards and had Washington fans everywhere coming up with nicknames in exuberance.

That three forced the Rockets to play the foul game, and the Wizards pulled out some clutch free throws to officially put the game away. Washington made 26 of its 28 free throws for the game, which is something the team has struggled with all year.

NEXT UP

The Western Conference road trip continues on Tuesday night with a game against the 22-10 Dallas Mavericks, who sit just behind the Rockets in the West standings. Dallas beat Washington earlier in the season, but that was before the Mavericks made the blockbuster trade for Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo.

Paul had 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first matchup, and he held his Dallas counterpart Chandler Parsons to just 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Since that game, however, Parsons has developed chemistry with his new teammates and is coming off one of his best games of the season, when he dropped 26 points on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a Dallas win on Sunday. In that game, Parsons knocked down five three-pointers and didn’t turn it over at all, so Paul will have his hands full on Tuesday night.

The game is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. ET start and will be broadcast locally on Comcast Sports Net.

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