NBA star reveals surprising details of how they knocked Toronto Raptors out of playoffs
Before the Toronto Raptors ever became champions of the NBA, they had a reputation for not exactly being the clutchest playoff team in the league.
On a recent episode of Underground Lounge, hosted by former Raptors player Lou Williams, NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce popped by to chat about his time playing against Toronto, among a series of other topics.
Williams played just one season for the Raptors in 2014-15, winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in the process.
But while the Raptors went into the playoffs with a 49-win record that was first in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference with Williams on the team, they were rudely met by a Washington Wizards squad that ended up sweeping them in four games.
One of the key pieces of the Wizards team was Pierce, who had also knocked out the Raptors in the playoffs the year prior with the Brooklyn Nets.
“Our whole scouting report was surrounded around you, because you were the key to making them win,” Pierce revealed to Williams, noting how rare it was to focus so heavily on a bench player. “We trapped [Williams].. DeMar DeRozan was averaging 28 [points per game], we was like ‘Alright, we’ll deal with him later… We gotta stop Lou [Williams],’” Pierce said.
The conversation, which starts at around 16:30 in the video below, sheds some light on how Wizards coach Randy Wittman and his staff were able to shut down the Raptors.
Williams revealed that the Raptors found it frustrating that the Wizards’ scouting staff seemed to have nailed down the scouting report on Toronto, limiting them to under 100 points in three of the four losses that ultimately ended their season.
“There used to be an iso on the left side… I don’t know who it was guarding me, but I ran across, and he didn’t move; he stayed there. I went to the next dude, [same thing].. DeMar DeRozan went to the huddle and said, ‘they know all our s***,'” Williams recalled with a laugh.
But the two franchises ultimately went in different directions since Williams and Pierce faced off in 2015.
After the series, the Wizards fell in six games to the Atlanta Hawks before missing the playoffs the following year.
Pierce actually opted out of his contract with Washington, moving on to the Los Angeles Clippers for the remainder of his career. Since beating the Raptors in that sweep, the Wizards have only won one playoff series since, getting the better of the Hawks in 2017.
Williams also went to Los Angeles, signing with the Lakers and then ending up with the Clippers, Hawks, and Houston Rockets before retiring in 2023.
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