Hawks' Carroll chose to sit on Pierce's game-winning possession

Paul Pierce's ridiculous game-winning buzzer-beater for the Washington Wizards in Game 3 on Saturday came with three defenders draped all over him at the left elbow.

Conspicuous by his absence in that triumvirate of outstretched arms was DeMarre Carroll, the best wing defender for the Atlanta Hawks and the man most would have assumed would draw the Pierce assignment on a pivotal possession. Instead, Dennis Schroder was Pierce's check, with help coming swiftly from Kyle Korver and Kent Bazemore.

It mattered little - Pierce's shot was going in regardless of the defender, as he'd surely tell you. But Carroll's absence stands as one of the major question marks of the Hawks' surprising 2-1 series deficit.

Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer stuck with a bench unit that had led the team's big comeback for longer than expected in the fourth quarter, opting to reward the players who'd gotten them there rather than turn things back over to an ineffective starting group. That's a debatable strategy late in a playoff game, but a justifiable one.

Not putting the team's best defensive unit on the floor for the final possession of regulation isn't justifiable. It turns out it wasn't Budenholzer's decision: the sophomore coach called on Carroll to enter the game, only for the player to decline.

"Coach did put me in," Carroll said. "But I didn't feel comfortable at the time. So, you know, I'll take that one. I should have been in the game. I didn't feel comfortable as far as physically."

There have been no reports that Carroll is injured and nobody else from the Hawks mentioned his opting out in postgame media availability. He played 30 minutes over the first three quarters of the game, looking fine and scoring 14 points with four rebounds and two steals. It's unclear exactly what was wrong, or why Carroll wanted to sit, though there was an illness floating around the locker room.

This will surely provide Pierce with even more trash-talk ammunition than he already had for Game 4 on Monday, as Carroll should once again see time checking the most clutch shooter of the 2014-15 playoffs. The Wizards have a chance, at home, to take a 3-1 series lead, at least in small part because Carroll wasn't comfortable checking Pierce.

The optics here are bad, and this interview could be brought up again this summer, when teams will try to weigh Carroll's value outside of the Hawks' system as an unrestricted free agent.