Washington Wizards beat Toronto Raptors; End 8 game losing streak with a 93-78 romp: NBA Recap
Playing against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night, the Washington finally spelled an end to an 8 game losing streak – the worst start in franchise history – by carving out a 93-78 win.
Wizards shuffled their lineup coming into the game, with coach Flip Saunders deciding to use Andray Blatche and Rashard Lewis from the bench. The move worked wonders for them as after a 17-20 first quarter and a barrage of boos
from the riled up home crowd, the duo orchestrated a 29-14 quarter, capped by a 14-6 break away run, for the Wizards to set the tone.
The Raps tried to rally back early in the third period and came within 8, 50-58, but a 23-4 Wizards burst, bridging the third and the early part of the fourth quarter, completely took the Canadians apart. The Raps, trailing by
27 points with 8:40 to go in the game responded with a 12-0 run and then outscored the Wizards throughout the remaining period, but never even came close to threatening the hosts.
On a night when John Wall could only manage 8 points on 3 of 12 and 9 assists, Nick Young and Lewis led the Wizards with 15 apiece. Young was relived after the win;
"Oh, man. It felt real good. It was like a playoff game," Young said. "I felt like jumping in the stands."
Jordan Crawford had 11 points off the bench while Chris Singleton who started in place of Blatche had 9 points and 9 rebound. Blatche himself had 9 points and 8 rebound and was more than satisfied with his new bench role;
"When we're playing like that, I don't have no problem doing that role," Blatche said. "We didn't just win. We actually played well."
The Raps were once again led by Andrea Bargnani with 22 points, DeMar DeRozan had 11 points on 4 of 16 while Leandro Barbosa finished the night with 12 points from the bench. Toronto coach Dwane Casey was disappointed with his
team’s intensity;
"Our disposition wasn't good coming out of the locker room to begin the game," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "We knew they were a hungry team, they were a wounded team. They were going to come out scratching and fighting and
I didn't think we matched their fight."
The Raps were poor form the floor and managed only 39.5 percent shooting in comparison to 48.8 from the Wizards. They also gave away 23 turnovers and were out done 54-28 on points in the paint.
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