The Toronto Raptors versus the Washington Wizards was going to be appointment television this year. It was a game circled on calendars because of how forgettable the Raptors’ performance was the last time they met in the post-season back in late April.
And after being humiliated in a four-game sweep as the higher seed to the Wizards, Toronto’s front office put a greater emphasis on defence and toughness.
That mantra guided four of Toronto’s big free agent acquisitions, and all four were impactful Saturday night and showed just how far Toronto has come.
It wasn’t easy or pretty by any means, as Toronto struggled to get out of neutral for most of the contest, but a little bit of revenge was had.
The Raptors struggled badly early on with an eight-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio in the first half while committing 14 fouls in the first half.
Keeping the Raptors in it early, Kyle Lowry had 14 of the team’s 39 points at half and 19 midway through the third quarter before going to the bench with four fouls.
Toronto did fight back and tied the game at 70 at the 9:02 mark in the fourth quarter but the Raptors struggled to get over the hump.
A big reason to the poor play was wasted possessions. Toronto matched a season-high with 22 turnovers.
For most of the proceedings a here-we-go-again feeling was present. It seemed the Raptors would fall and not get back in similar fashion to the way they did in the first round.
Only this time, that didn’t happen.
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Lowry was the player most in need to exercise the demons of last year’s sweep. A season ago his body broke down, which was the precipice for his off-season weight loss.
The new and improved point guard was at his best against his east all-star backcourt mate John Wall, putting up 27 points and seven rebounds, on 9-for-19 shooting, including a 6-for-11 mark from three-point range, in a foul-trouble limited 34 minutes.
DeMar DeRozan chipped in with 23 points on 8-for-20 shooting.
In a matchup of the East’s two best backcourts Toronto’s duo won out. After combining for 47 points Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, DeRozan and Lowry bettered that with 50 in Washington. On seven occasions, already, they have both scored 20 or more points, a feat they achieved just eight times last season.
The Wizards left the door open and the Raptors walked through.
With three seconds left and the Wizards leading by one, Wall missed a pair of free throws. The Raptors called a timeout after DeRozan corralled the long rebound to advance the ball to half court.
On the ensuing possession DeMarre Carroll inbounded and hit DeRozan in stride going to the basket, who instead of forcing a shot, drew the weak side help defence and kicked the ball to Cory Joseph for the corner three and the win.
Passing up on the big shot wasn’t an issue for DeRozan.
“I trust my teammates just as much as I trust myself,” he told reporters after the game. “As soon as he got it I knew he was going to knock it down.”
Lowry, who was kept in the backcourt as a decoy on the final play, was happy with the team’s mentality.
“We just kept chipping away,” he said. “Not every game is going to be pretty and not every game is going to be perfect, but if you go out there and play your game and stick with you principles – we held them to 82 points – you’ll always have a chance to win.”
Their resiliency showed true as it would have been easy to quit on the road in the first game of a back-to-back. This game is already the Raptors’ 12th road game of the 17 they’ve played, which is most in the league.
Before the buzzer-beater, the last time Toronto had the lead was in the first quarter, and the score was 9-8.
The winning basket punctuated a fourth quarter where Toronto outscored Washington 22-14 coming back when trailing by as many as 10.
The two teams are going in opposite directions as the Raptors have won four straight, three against playoff teams.
The big reason for the transition is the change in personnel. Although Lowry and DeRozan carried the offensive load, the team’s free agents made plays down the stretch to bring the Raptors back.
Joseph calmly hit the game winner like he did for Canada this summer in Mexico City against Mexico with a bronze medal on the line. He finished with a team-high six assists to go with his 12 points, hitting both his three-point attempts.
More importantly was the defence he played in his 34 minutes, shackling Wall into a 6-for-25 shooting night.
Carroll was effective, despite his 1-of-8 showing, harassing Bradley Beal into four turnovers.
Luis Scola shot 50 per cent from the field once again and grabbed six rebounds.
And Bismack Biyombo had 16 rebounds, tying Reggie Evans for the most boards collected by a Raptors player without scoring. Playing within himself, Biyombo only attempted one shot attempt in 35 minutes and, most importantly, he was able to come away with four blocks, coming mostly in spectacular fashion.
Lowry is appreciative of what the fill-in starter at centre has provided.
“He might not be scoring but the things he did tonight – protected the rim, grabbed every rebound that was up there – that he could even keep a few loose balls alive, he’s just playing incredible basketball right now,” Lowry said. We really appreciate what he’s dong for us.”
The defence is the biggest difference from the team that got swept in the spring. The win in Washington is the sixth time Toronto has kept a team under 40 per cent shooting. Washington shot just 32.9 per cent from the floor.
The defensive-minded Dwane Casey was not just happy with the win but how it was achieved.
“Our defence won it for us,” he said. “We played probably one of our worst offensive games with 22 turnovers but our defence saved us again. That goes to show a defensive focus and defensive effort will win games for you.”
Losing games to Washington last year made the Raptors focus on the fearsome free agent foursome that got it done defensively on Saturday night. The process was ugly but the result was beautiful.
What a difference a year makes for one franchise that didn’t make big moves in the off-season and one franchise that did.