Paul Pierce knows it’s different. Regular-season preparation is a modicum of what happens in the NBA playoffs. Extensive drill downs are outlined in scouting reports and loaded onto iPads. The details are more extensive and heeded. The precision of the playoffs is finally here for the Washington Wizards, who often appeared as if they were just waiting in line to finally be served.
“Regular season is regular season, but playoffs is a different monster,” Pierce said.
It will have to be for the Wizards to replicate or surpass last season when they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Washington opens the postseason Saturday at Air Canada Center against the Toronto Raptors, a team that sprinkles players along the perimeter and has beaten the Wizards three times this season in three games.
The first was a trouncing; an early-season embarrassment that began a qualifier that followed the Wizards throughout the season. They were able to handle the league’s subpar teams, but when they went to deal with a contender, they were knocked out. Back on Nov. 7, Toronto whacked the Wizards, 103-84. The game was not that close. Toronto led by 24 points at halftime. The Wizards shot 36.1 percent. It was a mess.
Wizards coach Randy Wittman all but discarded that game on Thursday. He pointed more to the other two games, each of which were eventually tight as the Wizards appeared to unlock and cover the complications the Raptors present when playing such a widely dispersed, and small, lineup.
The second game was a 120-116 overtime loss at Verizon Center, though the Raptors held an 18-point fourth-quarter lead. The third was a 95-93 loss in Toronto.
“We did a lot of things in those games we think can be successful again,” Wittman said.
Toronto was among several teams this season that would remove its big men and force Wittman to pivot. The Wizards were constructed for Nene and Marcin Gortat to play and punish in the post. Center Jonas Valanciunas is essentially Toronto’s only big man. The Raptors quickly caught on to how to counter the Wizards as the three regular-season games went on, and it meant less Valanciunas.
Valanciunas played 29 minutes in the first game, then 17 and 16 in the final two, respectively. Power forward Patrick Patterson, who shot 52.9 percent of his attempts this season behind the 3-point line, replaced him. By the end of the game, the Raptors would use a lineup with two point guards, Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams, a shooting guard, DeMar DeRozan, and two power forwards in Patterson and Amir Johnson.
“They hurt us when they went smaller and spread the floor,” Wittman said.
Pierce has been on the opposite end of regular-season success. The 2001-02 Boston Celtics beat the New Jersey Nets in three of four games during the regular season. The Nets then handled Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals that season, keeping Pierce from his first NBA Finals appearance with a 4-2 series win.
“A lot of things change in the playoffs,” Pierce said. “Right now, we’re a confident group. We feel like we could beat pretty much anybody in the East.”
Looking back more than a decade reminds that the 37-year-old Pierce is moving to the close of his career. He holds a player option to return to the Wizards next year, should he choose, but his beloved Celtics and the Los Angeles Clippers — where former Celtics head man Doc Rivers coaches and good friend Sam Cassell is an assistant in a town where Pierce went to high school — should have roster flexibility to add him. The Clippers tried to sign him last offseason before Pierce joined the Wizards. They could not make the contract work because of the salary cap. Before that final offseason choice, he knows this postseason carries an acknowledged weight because of the stage of his career.
“It’s very different for me because I don’t have too many more chances left in my career of playoff basketball and try to win a championship,” Pierce said. “I’ll enjoy each and every moment. I just try to get the guys to focus on the task at hand. These are special moments. There’s a lot of teams that wish they could be in this position, but a lot of teams are at home.
“We’ve got to take advantage of these moments. There’s nothing like playoff basketball. … This is where good players become great players. You try to relish these moments. That’s what I am trying to install into these guys, that every moment counts.”
As Pierce prepares, he knows sentiment and history can’t stop the Raptors’ offense. The Wizards will have to or the playoffs actually won’t be all that different than the regular season.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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