The Toronto Raptors have secured the potential key game 5 against the Washington Wizards. The 108:98 win (BOXSCORE) made it look as if the Canadians would fall into old patterns for a while.
That was a curious game in Canada! The Raptors looked like the nervous team for three-quarters of the time, only to play free in the final phase, while the guests completely lost the thread. Toronto now have the series under control and could make it to the second round in Game 6 if they manage to win in Washington.
Both teams were of course aware of the significance of the fifth game in the series and the game was played accordingly. The Raptors had a lot of trouble with the referees who gave Washington more free throws in the first half, but most of all they had trouble with themselves.
There wasn’t much to see of the highly acclaimed new game philosophy over long stretches – rather, the old recipe was chosen to put as much as possible into the hands of DeMar DeRozan. Which was not necessarily wrong: Already at the break the All-Star had scored 20 points and gave his team a very close 48:47 lead.
But it never seemed as if the Raptors were in rhythm, instead an incredible amount remained in the Offense Stückwerk and the bank was, further without Fred VanVleet, not such a strong factor as so often in the Regular Season. After the break this became a bit better, especially in the person of Jakob Pöltl (9 points, 3/5 FG) and Delon Wright (18, 6/10). The Raptors still didn’t get control of the game.
Besides the offense, this had a lot to do with the rebound work. Washington dominated the boards (50:35 rebounds) and once again relied on Wall, who seamlessly continued his strong performances in the series, scoring 26 points and 9 assists and 9 rebounds.
At the beginning of the last quarter it still looked as if the wizards had control over the game and above all the better nerves. But suddenly the tide turned. Wright achieved some important plays and gradually the Raptors thawed again more. Now it was the wizards who seemed tense and lost the thread at the front and back.
Toronto took the lead – and increased it to 10 points within a few minutes. Washington had no counterattack any more, curiously Wall took only one litter in the last three minutes. A threesome by C.J. Miles 40 seconds before the end at 106:93 finally cleared up the last doubts.
It was the Raptors’ eleventh submerged trio, which was ultimately an important factor in the victory (the Wizards only scored 5/26 3FG). Otherwise, one could thank Wright, but also the usual suspects: DeRozan scored 32 points, Kyle Lowry (17, 10 assists) and Jonas Valanciunas (14, 13 rebounds) played double doubles.
In addition to Topscorer Wall, Bradley Beal (20), Kelly Oubre (14) and Marcin Gortat (10, 12 rebounds) scored two-digit points in the Wizards.