Toronto Raptors share wealth to edge one out against the Washington Wizards – NBA Recap
The Toronto Raptors successfully defended their home turf here on Sunday night when they defeated the Washington Wizards, 99-92, at the Air Canada Center in a regular season fixture.
The Raptors led throughout the game and at one point, early in the 4th quarter, by as many as 15 points. The Wizards bounced back to come within 3 points of the Raptors with two minutes left in the game. But, the Raptors
were able to run away from the reach of the Wizards down the stretch.
Toronto had a balanced offensive night with Andrea Bargnani leading 4 players in double scoring digits. Andrea had 18 points and 8 points for the Raps, who also got 40 points from the bench.
Jordan Crawford led the Wizards scoring with 18 points. It was a good scoring day for the Wizards as 6 of their players had double digit points for the night.
The game was closely contested in the first half. Toronto led early in the first quarter, leading by 8 points in the early minutes. However, Wizards kept at their tail and decreased the lead to 1 at the end of the first quarter,
22-21.
The second quarter was similar in contest, with the Raptors taking a 9 point lead and under three minutes to go in the half. This was followed by an 8 - 3 run by the Wizards to close the half at 46-42, advantage Raptors.
The Raptors again extended their lead at the end of the third quarter to 10 points, led by DeMar DeRozan who scored 10 points in the period alone. They extended their lead to 13 early in the fourth with a 3 point shot from Alan
Anderson.
This lead was cut short to 3 points with less than two minutes left in the game, owing to a 10-4 run by the Wizards late in the 4th quarter. However, the Wizards could not finish the game and a put-back dunk by Amir
Johnson with 1:03 left on the clock sealed the fate of the Wizards.
"Another below-average defensive game for us. We got it back the second half, but we can't mess with the game like that. We have to stay with our focus and have that type of pride every time we walk on the floor no matter who it
is" said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey.
The Raptors bench outscored the Wizards bench 40-20 and they outnumbered the Wizards in rebounds 43-31. Although the Raptors did shoot poorly from beyond the three-point line (4 of 17 in 3PM-A for the night).
Wizards had six players in double digits and shot quite well from the three-point line, but their bench did not provide support needed by the starters and were unable to close the game after being within 3 points of the Raptors
late in the 4th .
The Toronto Raptors improve their record to 19-35 after this game. The Wizards have now dropped six of their last seven games.
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