TRUTH TELLER
Paul Pierce beat the Raptors with a veteran mix of brains and baskets.
Pierce scored five of his 20 points in overtime, Nene had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and the Wizards beat Toronto 9386 on Saturday in Game 1 of their firstround playoff series in Toronto.
“It takes the pressure off us and puts it on them now,” Pierce said of winning on the road to start the series.
Pierce hit a 3pointer, his fourth of the game, to begin the extra session, further tormenting a Raptors team he eliminated with the Nets in last year’s playoffs, then derided this week by saying, “I don’t feel they have the ‘it’ that makes you worried,” in an interview with ESPN.
“He was really big,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “I thought the 3 he hit to start the overtime was big [for] momentum.”
Bradley Beal scored 16, and John Wall and Kevin Seraphin each had 10 for the Wizards.
Amir Johnson scored 18 points and DeMar DeRozan had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors, who have yet to win the opening game of a firstround series in seven postseason appearances.
Toronto hosts Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Badgered by taunts from a vocal sellout crowd, Pierce also drew the ire of Toronto’s general manager. Masai Ujiri, who was fined $25,000 after he used a profanity about Brooklyn at the start of last year’s series, used another profanity in a pregame speech to thousands of fans watching on a big screen outside the arena. This time, Ujiri’s offcolor comment referred to Pierce’s recent “It” remark.
“Typical Ujiri,” Pierce smirked when told about it after the game. “You heard what he said last year when I was in Brooklyn. I couldn’t really care less. I think I can play the psychological war a little bit better than him.”
Warriors 106, Pelicans 99
In Oakland, Calif., Stephen Curry scored 34 points with an MVPworthy performance, and the Warriors went up big before holding off the Pelicans, 10699, in their playoff opener .
Klay Thompson added 21 points, and Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut dominated down low as the Warriors looked every bit like the NBA’s top seed — at least for three quarters. They smothered Anthony Davis and the Pelicans with the league’s best defense, thrilling a gold shirtwearing sellout crowd of 19,596 that rocked and roared all afternoon.
The Warriors led by 15 after the first quarter, 18 at the half and 25 late in the third. The Pelicans pulled within four in the final minute behind Davis, who scored 20 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, to make the contest seem closer than it really was.
Game 2 of the series is Monday night in Oakland.