The biggest takeaway from Paul Pierce‘s interview with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan was just how much The Truth hated his lone season in Brooklyn, but lost in the feature was that Pierce may have given a couple of Eastern Conference rivals some bulletin-board material for the postseason.
Speaking about potential playoff matchups, Pierce stressed that his Washington Wizards needn’t fear anyone.
“We haven’t done particularly well against Toronto, but I don’t feel they have the ‘It’ that makes you worried,” Pierce said of a Raptors team that swept the three-game season series with Washington and has won six of seven in the series.
Pierce, of course, played a starring role in the Nets’ seven-game triumph over the Raptors in last year’s playoffs, although that regular-season series was much more evenly matched.
Pierce wasn’t just throwing shade at the Atlantic Division champion Raptors, however, saving some words for the 60-win, East-leading Atlanta Hawks.
“There isn’t a team I look at in the Eastern Conference that makes me say, ‘They are intimidating, we don’t have a chance.’ As good as Atlanta is, they just don’t give off that aura where we’re afraid of them,” Pierce said.
The Hawks took three of four from the division-rival Wizards this season, with Washington’s only victory in the series coming in a game that saw Atlanta rest its entire starting lineup.
To summarize, the Wizards will not be intimidated by two teams they went a combined 1-6 against because of ‘It’ factors and auras.
Pierce did seem to have some respect for a Cleveland Cavaliers team that has gone 33-9 since mid-January, however.
“You definitely have to worry about Cleveland because they have LeBron and some vets now,” Pierce told MacMullan. “But if we get to the conference finals, anything can happen.”
Based on current Eastern Conference seeding, Washington’s path to the East final would go through Toronto and Atlanta, so Pierce and co. may get a chance to put their money where their mouth is.