Robb: Paul Pierce's Legendary Trash Talk Spoiled by Al Horford in Game 5
BOSTON – Paul Pierce almost added another memorable chapter to his legendary career of trash talking Thursday night before Hawks' center Al Horford forced a rewrite.
The drama began in the final 30 seconds of a tie contest in a critical Game 5 of the second-round series that was knotted up at two games apiece.
Pierce first put his teammates in a hole in the final minute by coughing up the ball to Kyle Korver on an attempted drive, leading to an easy 2-1 fast break for the Hawks and giving them a 80-78 lead.
After a Wizards timeout, the former Celtic captain found a path for redemption by continuing his sharpshooting from the 3-point line. John Wall made a sharp drive to the hoop after the inbounds, forcing a collection of Atlanta defenders to collapse on him. In the midst of the confusion, Pierce smartly floated to the corner as teammate Marcin Gortat set a screen on his defender.
Wall found an angle to make the dish, and Pierce hit another clutch 3-pointer to put the Wizards ahead with eight seconds remaining.
Pierce has made a living of the 3-ball this postseason, hitting a whopping 54.1 percent of his attempts from downtown (33-of-61), including several in the final two minutes of recent Wizards wins. At the time, this basket would seem to be a fitting sequel to Pierce calling "game" after his banked jumper won Game 3 for Washington, since the Truth was happy to run his mouth after the play.
Despite the Hawks having one possession remaining to tie the game, Chris Vivamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Pierce did not exactly account for that fact with his trash talking to the Hawks bench.
After Paul Pierce hit go-ahead 3-pointer, he looked at Hawks bench and said "Series."
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) May 14, 2015
Meanwhile, Pierce was so caught up in the moment after the 3-pointer, he left one of the Wizards employees hanging while staring down the Atlanta crowd.
Paul Pierce cold blooded ... leaving that guy hanging. https://t.co/iPYauHbe2Q
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) May 14, 2015
The storybook ending for the 37-year-old was ruined, however, when Horford snatched an offensive rebound away from Nene off a missed layup on Atlanta's final possession. The big man finished off the putback as Pierce watched helplessly.
The sequence ensures Pierce's best playoff moment in Atlanta remains as a Celtic, when he scored 36 points in Game 2 of the first-round series in 2012, all capped by a "Tebowing" celebration.
In the meantime, Pierce has two more opportunities to fulfill his promise of calling "series" for the Wizards, starting with Game 6 on Friday night.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.