WASHINGTON — These days it doesn’t seem to matter who is on the floor for the Eastern Conference-leading Toronto Raptors.
DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points, reserve CJ Miles added 20 and the Raptors beat the Washington Wizards 102-95 on Friday night.
The Raptors have won 10 of their last 11 games, including a season-high four straight on the road.
Led by Miles, the Toronto bench — which came in averaging 41.1 points — outscored Washington’s reserves 50-15.
"We take a lot of pride in coming off that bench and changing games," Miles said. "We’ve been calling ourselves the best bench in the league all year and I don’t think anybody can take that from us."
Miles scored 11 points in the second half and was 6 of 9 from 3-point range.
"We needed every one of them," coach Dwane Casey said. "Tonight was one of those nights where it was a struggle. Both teams were playing physical basketball, playoff-style basketball and it was hard. It was hard to score."
Jonas Valenciunas and reserve Fred VanVleet added 12 points apiece for Toronto.
Otto Porter Jr. led Washington with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting and Bradley Beal rebounded from an eight-point effort Wednesday against Golden State to finish with 23.
But 18 Washington turnovers — including six by point guard Tomas Satoransky — led to 27 Toronto points.
"I think it was bad decision-making, especially on my part," Satoransky said. "I think I have to do a much better job. Especially the first half. I felt like that kind of had an influence on my game There were some bad mistakes I usually don’t do."
Neither team led by more than four points in the fourth quarter until Miles’ 3-pointer from the corner made it 94-88 with 3:06 left.
Beal’s free throws cut the lead to four, but DeRozan scored four straight points and his layup gave the Raptors a 98-90 lead with 56 seconds remaining.
"Tonight, CJ had it rolling," DeRozan said. "You come in the game and realize that and you kind of use him at times to get you a shot, or at times for you to get off a shot and that’s what we did."
The Wizards got no closer than five points in the final minute.
Porter scored 13 points in the third quarter as the Wizards rallied from a 10-point deficit.
The Wizards fell to 10-5 as point guard John Wall recovers from left knee surgery.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks said before the game that Wall will begin on-court work consisting of light shooting soon, maybe Friday or Saturday.
With Valanciunas on the bench with two quick fouls, the Wizards hit three 3s and jumped out to an 18-4 lead.
The Raptors reserves keyed a rally and Toronto took its first lead at 35-34 on Malcolm Miller’s 3-pointer with 7:50 left in the first half.
TIP-INS
Raptors: Rookie F OG Anunoby, who left Wednesday’s game with a right ankle sprain, sat out. … Jakob Poeltl had three blocks and has blocked a shot in 11 straight games. … Split the season series with Washington 2-2.
Wizards: Had their streak of eight consecutive games with 25 or more assists snapped. … Streak of 100-point games was snapped at 15. … Outrebounded the Raptors 47-34. … Satoransky finished with 10 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
OTTO-MATIC
Over his last four games, Porter is averaging 23.4 points on 36-of-63 shooting (57 per cent), including 12 of 21 from 3-point range.
"He’s really stepped up," Brooks said. "He’s making shots. He’s making timely shots. We need it."
UP NEXT
Raptors: Host Charlotte on Sunday.
Wizards: Host Indiana on Sunday.
[relatedlinks]
