Wizards let Raptors back in, but win Game 1 in OT behind Paul Pierce
Discussions of the first-round series between the East’s No. 4 Toronto Raptors and No. 5 Washington Wizards have focused on which team has ‘”it.” It’s arguable that neither team did in Saturday’s Game 1 at the Air Canada Centre, but the Wizards escaped a fourth-quarter rally from the Raptors to come away with a 93-86 overtime win.
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The drama started before Game 1 even tipped off. Veteran wing Paul Pierce had caused controversy earlier in the week when he declared that the Raptors didn’t have “it” — that ineffable quality — in a wide-ranging and very honest article by Jackie MacMullan for ESPN.com.
It was just the latest in a long line of antagonism between Pierce and Toronto, but it irked the Raptors enough to cause general manager Masai Ujiri to curse in the team’s pregame rally outside the arena for the second year in a row. It’s not quite “F— Brooklyn,” but “We don’t give a s— about ‘it'” does at least rhyme. Then, in response, Raptors fans chanted “F— Paul Pierce.” Check out the NSFW video here if you’d like (via SB Nation):
The bigger problem for Toronto wasn’t anything Pierce said, but how he played. The 37-year-old changed the game in the first half after being moved to the four position — just as he did with the Brooklyn Nets in their first-round series against the Raptors last season — and scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the second quarter. That outburst mattered in a low-scoring game that saw both teams shoot less than 40 percent from the field on the day.
Toronto saw particular scoring struggles, with key players DeMar DeRozan (15 points on 6-of-20 FG) and Lou Williams (10 points on 4-of-16 FG) playing inefficiently. But the true nightmare belonged to point guard Kyle Lowry, who shot 2-of-10 for seven points and fouled out in just 33 minutes (although his counterpart John Wall also had a poor game with 10 points on 5-of-18 shooting). Lowry was deservedly voted to his first All-Star Game this February but fell off considerably in the second half of the season while dealing with a back injury. He will need to play far better if the Raptors hope to win this series.
Despite its struggles, Toronto managed to get back into the game in the fourth quarter. Down 74-59 with 8:00 remaining in regulation, the Raptors went on a 16-3 run over roughly five minutes to cut the margin to just two points. They hovered around that deficit until there were 25 seconds left in the quarter, when Greivis Vasquez took advantage of an apparent flop from Wall to nail a three-pointer and tie the game at 82-82:
Wall missed a potential winner on the next possession and Terrence Ross nearly tipped in a buzzer-beater for the Raptors following a timeout, sending the game to OT. Whatever momentum the Raptors had did not carry over. They failed to score over the first 4:30 of the five-minute extra period and saw the Wizards open up a seven-point lead in the process. Pierce started the scoring with at three-pointer and added two free throws late to finish off his 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field (even more impressive in the context of this offensively challenged contest). In a change of pace, his post-game interview with ESPN’s J.A. Adande was pretty calm:
If nothing else, Pierce proved that he has a few game-changing performances left in him.
However, it’s hard to say that either team covered itself in glory in this game. It was quite simply not particularly well played, more a case of inadequate offense than of quality defense. The Raptors must hope they can even the series in Tuesday’s Game 2, but neutrals will merely hope for a more watchable 48 minutes.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
