Woeful Wizards struggle against suddenly rolling Raptors defence.
There haven’t been many opponents the Toronto Raptors could bully and kick sand in the face of this season, but the Washington Wizards fit the bill.
By far the NBA’s worst team Washington was comically bad at home early on Wednesday night, taking more than five minutes to score a point, and was soundly handled 106-82 by a suddenly streaking Raptors team. Toronto won a fifth game in a row, the first time that’s happened since late in the 2021-22 season, when Nick Nurse was still the coach, Pascal Siakam made third team All-NBA, Fred VanVleet was an all-star and Barnes won rookie of the year. Only Barnes and Chris Boucher remain from that team. This team, which has won seven of eight, has also now guaranteed its first month with a record above .500 since November 2023.
Reigning Eastern Conference player of the week Scottie Barnes led the way again with 24 points, Jakob Poeltl added 12, with six assists, Davion Mitchell didn’t miss a shot and had 10 points and nine assists, while five other Raptors scored in double figures.
Kyle Kuzma led Washington, now losers of 15 straight, with 19 points.
Toronto was -275 favourites, by far the most the team has been favoured in a game this season. That made sense since Washington had gone 4-37 since starting the season 2-2 and had been in last place in the NBA standings since November 22. In addition to this long skid, the team also has dropped 16 in a row this season.
Toronto was again without starting point guard Immanuel Quickley, but starting shooting guard Gradey Dick joined him on the shelf due to illness, with Kelly Olynyk also unable to play due to a right calf strain.
Washington was without veterans Malcolm Brogdon and Marvin Bagley III and 2024 No. 2 overall selection Alex Sarr.
Toronto got off to a 16-2 lead. It took the Wizards more than five minutes to score a point and the team shot 25% in the quarter, falling behind 31-18.
Toronto ranked 25th in the NBA in defensive efficiency heading in, but eighth over the previous 10 games and first over the last seven, a remarkable turnaround.
Those numbers will be getting even better still after this one. The Raptors held the Wizards to a season-low 38 points in the first half, forced them into 15 turnovers and only 2-for-15 three-point shooting.
The visitors kept pouring it on in the third, stretching the lead to 27 early on and up to as many as 28 before Washington cut it to 80-58 heading into the fourth.
At times the Wizards looked like a group of players who had been plucked off the street. Shots refused to fall (they started 4-for-25 from three-point distance), they couldn’t take care of the ball (25 turnovers against only 17 assists) and gave up way too many shots in the paint. It was bad enough that midway through the fourth, Washington had the same number of made field goals as turnovers.
Another winnable game is on tap for the Raptors with Chicago in town Friday, before the schedule gets a lot more challenging, including a possible reunion with Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell Sunday. The four-game homestead will conclude with a back-to-back against New York and Memphis, who are in third place in their respective conferences.