Pierce Moves into Top 20 of NBA's All-Time Playoff Points List
While it was the shot he missed that will mostly be remembered, Washington Wizards forward Paul Pierce moved into the top 20 of the NBA's all-time playoff points list during Monday's 106-101 Game 4 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, per Sportsnet Stats.
Pierce made eight of his 13 field-goal attempts and five of his seven three-point attempts, finishing the contest with 22 points to bring his career playoff total to 3,138 points.
He now stands 20th on the NBA's all-time list, nestled between 21st-place Dennis Johnson (3,116 points) and 19th-place Kevin McHale (3,182).
As well as he shot for the night, Pierce missed an open three-pointer with about eight seconds remaining and his Wizards down by only three points.
Hawks forward Paul Millsap then put the game away with a pair of free throws, evening the series at two games apiece.
While his late miss was disappointing, the 37-year-old Pierce probably gets a free pass, seeing as he banked in a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer in Saturday's 103-101 Game 3 victory.
He needs just 44 more points to match McHale for 19th place on the all-time playoff list, but Pierce won't be able to move any higher than that this season, as 18th-place Dwyane Wade (3,481) sits 343 points away.
Even in the highly unlikely event that the Wizards play the maximum of 17 more playoff games, Pierce would need to average 20.2 points per contest to surpass Wade.
