Hawks-Wizards Game 5: The Night The Truth Lied

Now that I’ve gotten my nerves back under control after last night’s emotional Hawks victory over the Wizards in Game 5, I realize that there is a lesson of morality that we all can learn from the game’s final seconds.  It’s about humility and humbleness.  Al Horford carried himself with class and Paul Pierce acted like a fool.

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When Paul Pierce sank that clutch corner three to give the Wizards an 81-80 lead inside of ten seconds, he could have easily gone to halfcourt and given Marcin Gortat a big ole hug before meeting with his teammates and HC Randy Wittman during the Hawks’ called timeout.  Instead Pierce decided to taunt the Hawks’ bench by screaming “SERIES!” at them on his way back down the court.

For a man who has hit a ton of big shots in his life, why is he carrying himself like Lance Stephenson of the Charlotte Hornets?  Pierce might as well pull a Lance and blow in LeBron’s ear during the Eastern Finals because Washington supposedly won the series last night.  Looks like The Truth lied because the Wiz are now facing playoff elimination.

Going up 3-2 in a best-of-seven series strongly forecasts a series winner as the victor of a pivotal Game 5 wins the series 82% of the time.  But 82% is not an absolute certainty.  Had anyone on the Atlanta Hawks or really anybody else on the Washington Wizards made that shot, he wouldn’t have belittled the other team.  He would have given credit to his opponent for their performance in a hard-fought game.

Al Horford admitted that he was in the right place at the right time for the go-ahead put-back basket to seal Game 5 for the Atlanta Hawks.  Horford hit the most clutch shot of his life last night and did not put himself of a pedestal.  Had Atlanta failed to score on their final possession, who knows what sort of Kanye West-like proclamation The Truth would have preached to TNT Sideline Reporter David Aldridge?

There is a spot for Pierce in Springfield and I want to believe that he’s better than this.  But every time he has opened his blabbermouth in the playoffs this spring, he has done nothing but take cheap shots at other teams in the Association.  First Brooklyn, then Toronto, now Atlanta.  I’m glad you got served a fat slice of humble pie last night.  No one is bigger than the game of basketball and that’s The Truth.