Lost in the celebration of Paul Pierce’s game-winning shot Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks is that DeMarre Carroll says he declined the opportunity to defend Pierce on the final play.
The Hawks were down by 20 with just under eight minutes in the game when their bench players took them on a huge run and tied the game. With the game tied 101-101 and 14 seconds left, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer wanted to put Carroll back into the game to defend Pierce. As everyone who saw the play can tell you, Carroll was on the bench while Pierce made the shot over Dennis Schroder.