Last summer, Paul Pierce joined the Washington Wizards in one of the marquee moves of the 2014 NBA offseason. Throughout his 17th NBA season, Paul provided the budding young D.C. squad with some marvelous performances that allowed them to advance into the playoffs, where he continued to shine. This offseason, we’re looking back at his Top 5 performances of the season.

Coming in at No. 4 is a big effort from No. 34 against one of the NBA’s best teams, on a night where his Wiz needed every last point to grab a victory.

NO. 4—DEC. 29, 2014: THE TRUTH TOPS THE ROCKETS

During his first campaign in the nation’s capital, Paul Pierce helped guide the Wizards to one of the best seasons in recent franchise history. The effort was highlighted by a historic start for Washington over the first two months of the season, as they raced out to one of the league’s best records at the end of 2014.

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Perhaps the high-water mark of the season came just before the New Year, when Paul dropped 21 points on just nine shots against the Houston Rockets to help the Wizards improve to 22-8. That record was good enough to match Washington’s best start through 30 games in franchise history, tying the mark set by the 1974-75 Bullets team.

“We can’t just talk about it, we have to go out there and show people,” Paul said about the Wizards being the real deal after that win. “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.”

It wasn’t just the mark in the win column that made the victory over Houston so significant for Washington; it was how they won that made the difference.

The Wiz entered the game looking to prove that their hot start to the season wasn’t a fluke, and that they could match up with the elite teams in the Western Conference. A win in Houston was to be huge, not only for the Wizards’ confidence, but also for how the rest of the league viewed the upstart team.

The Rockets finished the season 56-26 and lost in the Western Conference Finals, but when the Wizards visited Houston, both teams had identical 21-8 records and the Rockets boasted the league’s leading MVP candidate at the time, James Harden, who eventually finished second in the voting.

They also harbored former Wizards small forward Trevor Ariza, who Paul replaced in the Washington starting five, so there was a fair bit of drama to the game even before the opening tip.

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Paul came out of the gate slowly in the first quarter, content to let D.C.’s backcourt duo of Bradley Beal and John Wall control the tempo of the game. The Truth didn’t even look for his shot in the opening frame and hoisted just one attempt from the field—a three that was off the mark.

Washington Wizards v Houston RocketsBut after Houston established an advantage at the end of the first and early in the second, No. 34 became a bit more aggressive when he re-entered the game at the 5:17 mark of the second frame. The Rockets held a seven-point advantage at the time, but Paul wasted no time cutting into it as he quickly drove to the basket for a layup on his first trip down the court.

Moments later, he got to the rim for another layup, this one coming with a foul. He converted the free throw to make it a four-point game, and shortly thereafter, Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal got hot. He drained back-to-back threes to put Washington up by one in the final minute of the half, and his 14 first-half points were a game high.

Though Paul’s statistical impact was small — he knocked down two of his three shots from the field for five points in the second — he had a significant impact on the tempo of the game, helping the Wizards really to a halftime lead.

Despite a first half in which Paul stayed mostly quiet, star point guard John Wall went just 1-for-7, and Houston stars Harden and Dwight Howard combined for 24 points and eight rebounds, Washington was able to carry a 46-45 lead into halftime.

But the second half was where the real action started for the future Hall of Famer, as No. 34 put the team on his back. Just 77 seconds into the second half, Paul knocked down a tough mid-range jumper.

A few minutes later, Wall found him cutting toward the hoop for a layup that extended the Wizards lead to eight. Patrick Beverley cut into that advantage with a three, so Paul answered with a three-point try of his own and though he did not convert it, the crafty Pierce drew a foul in the process. He drained all three free throws to put Washington back on top 58-50.

A minute later, The Truth drove through the lane for another layup. Then, on the other end of the floor, he corralled a rebound on the defensive glass and took it coast-to-coast through traffic and pulled up for a difficult jumper that dropped to stake the Wizards to a commanding lead.

In a relatively short span, Paul had knocked down each of his four attempts from the field and drained 3-for-3 from the charity stripe to take control of the game. The Truth came out of the game for a rest with just more than three minutes remaining in the third quarter and his Wizards up by 14.

But while No. 34 took a breather on the bench, Houston swung the momentum and began to rally. In the early minutes of the fourth period, the Rockets closed within seven; by the time Paul re-entered the game, Washington was up by just six. But The Truth’s hand had cooled considerably in his absence and even with him back on the court, the Rockets kept coming.

Houston had built so much momentum that it seemed nothing could stop them. They continued rattling off baskets, and a Harden fadeaway at the 5:07 mark tied the score at 84.

But there was still plenty of time on the clock, and Paul wasn’t about to let his team crumble in the fourth period. He found Nene with a well-placed pass that lead to a layup to put Washington back in front. Moments later, he pickpocketed Corey Brewer and pushed the ball ahead in transition, that turnover led to a Marcin Gortat dunk to briefly give the Wizards some breathing room. They worked with a small lead for the final minutes as the teams traded baskets, but the Rockets simply would not quit and found themselves back within two with under two minutes to go.

But as crunch time arrived, it came time for The Truth to put the game out of reach.

With a little more than a minutes showing on the clock, Beal dribbled out of a double-team and found Paul on the elbow, and the future Hall of Famer coolly canned a trey to put Washington back up by seven with just 1:12 left.

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That three forced the Rockets to begin giving fouls, and the Wizards responded by knocking down their free throws. Despite some heroics by Harden, who scored nine points in the final 20 seconds to make it interesting, Washington was able to hold on for an uplifting victory.

After the game, Paul gave his analysis of the win, showing some of those leadership qualities that made him a huge asset to the Wizards all season. While he was happy to have helped the team pull out their 22nd victory in 30 games, he was hardly thrilled with the manner in which they got there and set the tone for his teammates not being simply satisfied with their standing all season long.

“We walked away with a win, despite the circumstance of them getting back into the game…we’re keeping our composure at certain points,” Paul recounted. “Some good things, a lot of bad things…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.”

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