The Washington Wizards barely look recognizable from the team that limped to the end of the regular season. They stunned the Toronto Raptors twice north of the border, then held them off again with a number of big shots to win, 106-99, and take a 3-0 series lead.
Raptors vs. Wizards Game 3 results: 3 things we learned as Washington won again
The Wizards took a strong punch from a desperate Raptors team, but made enough big shots late to get a 106-99 win and a 3-0 series lead.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Raptors flew out of the gate, scoring on seemingly every possession and generating the kind of looks they hadn't found all series. DeMar DeRozan was especially hot, pouring in 20 in the first quarter while hitting open threes. But the Raptors' defense wasn't up to snuff, allowing the Wizards to hang around. A lift by Drew Gooden and another lights-out sequence from the team's small lineup allowed Washington to regain control by halftime.
The Wizards' offense stagnated in the third quarter, allowing the Raptors to regain the lead despite Kyle Lowry continuing to fire blanks. A layup by Amir Johnson put Toronto up one with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. The Wizards briefly regained control, but the Raptors -- playing with the frantic energy of a club with its season on the line -- made yet another charge to take a one-point lead with 5:55 remaining in the game.
The teams traded blows from there, but Washington eventually put the game away thanks to two clutch Otto Porter threes. The second one put the Wizards up five, and they pushed the lead to eight the next play on a Paul Pierce triple with just under two minutes left. Toronto gave itself a chance with two impossible Lowry shots, but Pierce put the game away as he has so many times in his career.
3 things we learned
1. John Wall continues his rampage
What else can we say? Wall may have gone just 5-of-15 from the field, but he controlled the entire game, allowing for the rest of the Wizards to score the points. Even the 15 assists underplays the way he orchestrated Washington’s attack. The Raptors couldn’t stop him with their pick and roll coverages.
Wall faced two elite defenses in last year's playoffs and at times struggled to deal with their different looks. The Raptors are a far cry from last year's Chicago Bulls or Indiana Pacers, but the experience made Wall smarter. He now dribble probes with the right sort of pace, attacking when there's a lane and using whatever space he's given to force defenders to make decisions. He doesn't bail out the defense anymore with long jumpers. Instead, he's playing like he's mastered the point guard handbook.
Combine that with his speed and athleticism, and the Raptors had no answer. Look at this pass.
That is the ultimate combination of high-flying and smarts. Wall quickly attacked a gap, jumped, read the help defender in midair and delivered a pass where only Marcin Gortat can catch it. No other point guard can do that.
He also came up big down the stretch, threading the needle on a three-point play to Gortat with the shot clock about to expire and then getting a layup on the next play to hold off Toronto’s run.
2. The Wizards dominated when they went small, but didn’t do it enough
It's a broken record at this point. Toronto will hold its own as Washington cycles through traditional lineups in the first 15 minutes or so, only to be blown away when Washington unleashes its small lineup. The Raptors were up four when Randy Wittman put the Wall/Bradley Beal/Porter/Pierce/Gortat lineup in. They trailed by six at halftime.
Second quarter in this series: Wizards 82, Raptors 50.
— alex (@steven_lebron) April 25, 2015 Toronto cannot defend that lineup and don’t have the personnel to exploit the Wizards inside on the other end. The Raptors also haven’t been able to shake DeRozan from Porter’s clutches in these situations. DeRozan scored 20 points in the first quarter, but was 0-for-4 in the second as Porter hounded him.
Which is why it was such a surprise that the Wizards didn’t go back to the lineup until midway through fourth quarter. The offense stagnated with the Nene/Gortat and Nene/Gooden frontcourt combinations, allowing Toronto to get back into the game. By the time Pierce re-entered at the seven-minute mark, the Raptors had confidence and momentum. The Wizards got themselves caught in a dogfight when they could have put the game away sooner.
3. The Monstars stole Kyle Lowry's talent
What a horrible series it’s been for the Raptors’ All-Star starter. To be fair, he hasn’t been 100 percent thanks to lingering back issues, but his woeful performance calls into question whether he’s really as good as a groundswell of supporters think. He shot 5-for-22 from the field in this game and is now 10--of-42 from the field in the series. Wall has thoroughly outplayed him, though of course the Wizards’ team defense has been instrumental in the effort.
Lowry just can’t get into the lane consistently anymore, and when that happens, he can only take fadeaway 18-footers off the dribble. Those aren’t going to go down against the Wizards’ ferocious defense.
3a. That was a gutsy effort from DeMar DeRozan
While his backcourt mate struggled, DeRozan put Toronto on his back by himself. Sure, he had a few wild shots and his final field goal numbers don’t look great, but with nobody else stepping forward, the Raptors’ shooting guard needed to take over to keep his team in the game. He pushed Toronto in front early on with 20 first-quarter points, then relentlessly attacked the hoop in the fourth quarter to keep the game close. He left nothing on the floor, as the cliche goes.
It was exactly the kind of performance that makes up for so many of DeRozan’s wobbly ones. There are times when a team needs someone to fight back in a desperate moment. DeRozan was that person. The Wizards had to pay attention to him, opening offensive rebounds and cuts for other players. His fight more than made up for a couple bad shots.
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