Paul Pierce hit a three-pointer with eight seconds left to put the Wizards up one on the Hawks, and it seemed we were due for another Vine of a Truth game-winner. The Hawks had the last possession but as all the pundits have repeated, they don't have that star or clutch performer to take the last shot.
Al Horford’s game-winning putback was Paul Pierce’s fault
The only reason Horford was free to grab the game-winning offensive rebound is that Pierce was not in proper rebounding position, forcing Horford’s man to compensate.
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Second-year point guard Dennis Schröder was oddly their choice of weapon, and he was denied at the rim by John Wall. The game looked over when, seemingly out of nowhere, Al Horford gathered the offensive rebound and hit a layup to give his team the win.
The Hawks are now one game away from advancing to the first conference finals in franchise history, all because their leader made a huge play. Yet a lot went on before Horford even got to the ball. Much of the criticism has been centered on Nene because Horford was his man, but it’s actually Pierce himself that made the biggest mistake.
The play
In a postgame interview with TNT’s David Aldridge, Horford described what the Hawks were trying to do on the last play.
“Well, the play was for Dennis to go score,” Horford said. “I was just supposed to set a screen for Kyle [Korver]. I saw that it got a little crowded in there, but Paul [Millsap] was supposed to get the rebound if we missed.”
The Hawks knew Pierce would be on the court guarding Millsap and being ready to switch any screens. Thus, Millsap was ready to screen for Schröder. At the same time, Horford screened for Korver.
Millsap moved to the top of the arc for the pick, but Schröder went away from the screen and attacked the backpedaling John Wall one-on-one. Meanwhile, Nene was occupied guarding the opposite-side action, not realizing that was designed specifically to take him out of the paint.
The play was designed for Schröder to have a path to the basket with no help defender involved. Schröeder is not a great isolation scorer, ranking in the 43rd percentile during the regular season in those situations, and was 3-11 from the field prior to that attempt. It was a curious play call, but it looked like it was going to work.
Not only did Schröder have a step on Wall, but Pierce was completely out of the play after inexplicably reaching in for a steal. Millsap has a lane to crash the offensive board if Schröder missed.
Schröder had a layup and Millsap is in perfect position to get a putback if he misses. That forced Nene to leave Horford to go box out Millsap.
The good news for the Wizards is that Wall used his elite speed and explosion to recover and actually block the shot. Nene was in place to box out Millsap and Pierce managed to get back in position to at least put a part of his body on Millsap as well.
The problem is that because Nene had to leave Horford after Pierce’s failed steal attempt, no one has a body on Horford.
Nene and Pierce took Millsap out of the play, but Horford is free to just rise and get the rebound between four Wizards.
Once Horford got the ball, nobody could stop him. Horford's momentum knocked Nene to the ground and Pierce was already out of the play. Wall was below the rim and Bradley Beal and Otto Porter were too far away to contest.
The result is an uncontested layup for Horford.
Pierce is the Wizard that’s most to blame
So, the Wizards made a couple of mistakes. First, Wall should not have jumped far to guard Schröder. Going under the screen, if Schröder used it, or simply giving Schröder the jumper would have been a better idea. A look at Schröder’s shot charts shows that he was OK on the right side of the court during the regular season, but reluctant to fire from there in the playoffs.
If Wall just let Schröder take that shot, the rebounding issues never would have happened.
But at least Wall made up for his mistake by blocking the shot. The same can’t be said for Pierce. He tried to reach on the drive, which opened a lane for Millsap to crash the offensive glass. That decision killed the Wizards because it forced Nene to rush to the rim instead of putting a body on Horford.
Pierce almost gave Washington the win on the previous play, but that reach-in set up a domino effect that led to Horford’s game-winner. While it was a lucky bounce that put the ball in Horford’s hands, Pierce’s gamble started the chain reaction that got Nene out of rebounding position. While Nene could and probably should have secured the board anyway, his job was harder than necessary because Pierce was out of the play.
The Truth has been amazing for the Wizards in the clutch during the postseason, delivering dagger after dagger in their wins. But in Game 5, it was his defensive slip-up that cost them a win.
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