10 things I saw from Raptors-Wizards (Game 3)
Published in
3 min readApr 21, 2018
- Response: The Wizards are nothing if not absurdly prideful and they came out with their best effort. Marcin Gortat and Bradley Beal finally woke up, and the Wizards played with more desperation. The game was manageable through 2–½ quarters before a no-call led to a huge run for the Wizards that sealed it.
- Discipline: The Raptors wilted under more aggressive pressure. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry kept trying to force passes that weren’t there despite fewer traps from the Wizards, and that led to 28 points off 19 turnovers. It was 13 points on 14 turnovers in Game 2 and 13 off 14 in Game 1.
- Concern: The hybrid starter-bench lineups continue to struggle, as the likes of Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam continue to provide next to nothing. Part of that is attributable to the continued absence of Fred VanVleet, but it’s also on Poeltl and Siakam to stay disciplined on defense. Poeltl needs to stop fouling and Siakam needs to stop leaving Mike Scott.
- Exposed: Washington ran away with the game in the second and third quarter, and the main issue was pick-and-roll defense. John Wall was money from the midrange against drop coverages, while Beal wriggled open too often away from the ball. The right matchup would be to put Lowry on Beal and for OG Anunoby to cover Wall, and for a mobile shot blocker to back them up, but Casey kept insisting otherwise.
- Matchups: The scheme calls for Jonas Valanciunas to drop back into the paint, but things go haywire when Wall or Beal make a few shots. Valanciunas starts to creep more towards the guard, and that’s where the little dump passes to Gortat starts to bleed them. Once both threats are activated, Valanciunas is completely lost in the sauce and a substitution needs to be made. However, on a night where Serge Ibaka had Bismack Biyombo hands, there just wasn’t another viable option.
- Control: 19–4–8 isn’t a bad stat line for Lowry, but it really hides a mostly worrisome performance from the lead guard. Washington backed off and tried to encourage him to score, but Lowry insisted on forcing tough passes that just weren’t there. It always seems that when times get tough, Lowry has a propensity to gamble and lose his head. For example, he lost the ball in the third quarter and responded by slapping an airborne Beal across the head for a deserved flagrant-1. In the fourth, while saddled with four fouls, Lowry tried to tie up Otto Porter and earned his fifth.
- Feisty: Familiarity breeds contempt, and there’s definitely some bad blood brewing. OG Anunoby and Markieff Morris got into a shoving match in the first quarter, then John Wall and Serge Ibaka started trading words later on. Washington is filled with wannabe tough guys, and the Raptors can’t afford to be suckered in.
- Composure: I continued to be impressed with OG’s poise, as he was arguably the most unaffected Raptor tonight. He got tackled hard by Wall on a fast break and he just calmly swished two free throws. OG’s defense continues to be a plus, he’s not afraid to launch a three, and he needs more minutes.
- Attitude: Washington took a lot of confidence from this game, and that’s really a shame, because the Wizards love nothing more than to preen and prance. They’re frontrunners, and they’ll let you know about it.
- Chanting “U-S-A” at the Raptors is beyond stupid for obvious reasons and it just makes y’all look bad. It’s just another reason to dislike Americans.
