Paul Pierce and the Washington Wizards returned home to the Verizon Center Wednesday night, and they had a chance to grab a late victory and snap a three-game skid, but a driving layup in the final seconds by Indiana Pacers point guard George Hill did them in.
Paul finished with four points, five boards and an assist, and he was the only Wizards starter to finish without a turnover, but it wasn’t enough for the reeling Wizards who have lost four in a row to fall to 40-32.
The Truth played just 23 minutes in the contest, perhaps to give his 37-year-old legs a rest after a grueling Western Conference road trip, and star shooting guard Bradley Beal sprained his ankle early to limit the Wizards’ scoring options. All-Star point guard John Wall carried the bulk of the scoring load, putting up a season-high 34 points including a late three that tied the game at 101, but a bungled defensive possession allowed Hill an open layup to give the Pacers a 103-101 victory.
“It comes down to the little details, following the little details of the game,” Paul said after the loss. “Our coverages, sticking with them, staying confident in them, doing the things that we did to get the lead. When you deviate from that, things like this happen, you end up with bad losses. Certain things we were supposed to do on the pick and roll, when we don’t do them we allow them to get to the paint and get easy opportunities.”
No. 34 helped jump-start the sluggish Wizards offense early, capping a 10-0 run with a three-pointer after the Pacers started the game with a 6-0 run. After that, he played a facilitation role and focused on defense, holding Indiana forward Solomon Hill to just 13 points on 3-for-8 shooting.
The last time Washington took on the Pacers, Solomon Hill torched the Wizards for a career-high 28 points in a Pacers loss, so Paul’s efforts were visible and appreciated on Wednesday night. But this time, it was the other Hill that defeated the Wizards.
George Hill scored 29 points, was one assist and three rebounds away from a triple-double, and his layup ultimately put the nail in the coffin. Head coach Randy Wittman said the Wizards were supposed to trap Hill on the final possession, but for whatever reason, the trap never came to be, something Paul said was due to a lack of defensive discipline and execution.
“We were supposed to trap him, rotate, I guess we couldn’t get to the trap and we ended up giving up a layup somehow,” Paul, who was taken out for the play, said. “It happened so fast, I haven’t even seen it again. I’ll have to check it out again.”
“You have mental lapses throughout the course of the game, but when it comes down to the last few minutes and especially the fourth quarter, we’ve got to do a better job of paying attention to the detail,” The Truth added. “We’ve got to be more disciplined on the defensive end. It’s definitely a game we shouldn’t have gave away tonight, just a little more discipline on the defensive end and we’d be walking away from here smiling, but we didn’t.”
Wittman, who ripped his team’s defensive effort and intensity throughout the road trip, continued to do so after the loss to the Pacers, saying the team doesn’t seem to have any focus or desire to play a full 48 minutes.
“It was 90-80 with six-and-change
[remaining the in the game], and we blew that lead faster than—because of our gambling and giving no effort defensively,” Wittman said. “We just quit playing defensively. Up to that point, it was pretty good. I don’t trust these guys to do any switching, and we never do any switching. … We were just undisciplined from a defensive standpoint.”NEXT UP
The Wizards host the division-rival Charlotte Hornets on Friday night with hopes of getting back on track. The Hornets, at 30-40, are right on the cusp of the playoffs currently, but they remain in contention with the Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference.
It is the final of four games between the teams this season. Charlotte won the first two meetings, but Washington manhandled the Hornets in the third matchup by way of a 95-69 shellacking in Charlotte. Paul put up nine points and five rebounds in just 18 minutes in that game.
The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET tip and can be seen locally on Comcast Sports Net.
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