2015 NBA Playoffs: Washington Wizards steal home court from the Toronto Raptors to take Game 1 in overtime

Paul Pierce of the Washington Wizards answered the call whenever his team needed him.

Veteran Paul Pierce scored 5 of his team’s 11 points and knocked down a clutch three in overtime as the Washington Wizards stole home court from the Raptors by winning Game One 93-86 in Toronto. Couple of days before the game, Pierce in an interview with ESPN said that the Toronto Raptors don’t have the “it” factor that gets a team worried. He backed that statement up by leading the Wizards with a team high 20 points.

Both teams began the game sluggish on offense with poor shooting and a lot of turnovers. However, the Wizards completely outplayed the Raptors and took a 4 point lead into the locker room at halftime. Their back court of John Wall (10 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds) and Bradley Beal (16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists) were just too much to handle as the duo pushed the pace of the game and used their speed to hurt Toronto with their transition game.

Everything was going wrong for the Raptors in the second quarter. Their center Jonas Valanciunas was going through foul trouble and that led to their anniliation on the glass as they had just 3 offensive rebounds in comparison to Washington’s 11. By the end of the third, the Raptors were in some big trouble down 9 points, but they rallied in an attempt to make a game out of it.

Outscoring the Wizards 26-17 in the fourth quarter, the Raptors went on a late charge and almost came through by sending the game to overtime on Vasquez’s late three. Having said that, they couldn’t keep the momentum going and faded in overtime to go 1-0 down in the best of seven series.

It wasn’t hard to notice why the Raptors were losing. Their All-Star poing guard Kyle Lowry (7 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists) was not just facing problems shooting the ball, but also had to warm the bench in the first half due to foul trouble. He eventually fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter which brought Vasquez on the court.

To make matters worse, Lowry wasn’t the only one struggling to get the ball in the basket as the team shot a combined 38% from the field and 27% from the long range. DeMar Derozan, the Raptors’ other superstar register a double double with 15 points and 11 rebounds but he finished with inefficient shooting numbers as well.

Game 2 will be played on Tuesday night in the Air Canada Center, Toronto.

Paul Pierce, “The Truth’s” crucial 20 points: