Cory Joseph beats the buzzer as Raptors stun Wizards
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Version 0 of 1. Minutes before the Washington Wizards took the Verizon Center hardwood and discovered another way to lose Saturday night, Coach Randy Wittman implored his players to summon their inner beasts against the Toronto Raptors. After a baffling display of lethargy doomed them in a 33-point defeat to the Boston Celtics on Friday night, he just wanted to see some urgency. He wanted rabid creatures. “Play like a wild animal,” Wittman said. “You got to change your luck. Luck isn’t just going to change on its own.” The Wizards responded by summoning the necessary intensity. But they still couldn’t unearth enough offense to flip their fortune in an 84-82 loss to the Raptors. Leading by eight points with less than four minutes remaining, the gap dwindled to one with 3.8 seconds left when John Wall, in the midst of his worst slump in three seasons, went to the free throw line and bricked two freebies. The Raptors capitalized at the other end, executing a play that created an open corner three-pointer for Cory Joseph to win the game and extend the Wizards’ losing skid to four games. “It was a tough night,” Wizards center Marcin Gortat said. “It was a heartbreaker.” The Wizards (6-8) decided to switch to an up-tempo, pace-and-space offensive system this season largely because of their success with the style when they swept the Raptors in the first round of the playoffs this past spring. But in the teams’ first meeting since the Game 4 elimination seven months earlier, the Wizards were light years from mastering the operation and their offensive woes continued. Facing a fourth game in five nights with just 10 available players because of injuries against a Raptors squad that was probably the Wizards’ strongest opponent over the taxing stretch, Wittman elected to start Jared Dudley in place of Kris Humphries at power forward for the first time this season. But the adjustment did not spark the offense. Instead, Washington shot 32.9 percent from the floor, barely better than the season-low 32.1 percent they set in Boston on Friday. Over their last nine quarters, beginning with Wednesday’s epic fourth-quarter meltdown in Charlotte, the Wizards are shooting 29.5 percent from the floor. “It’s a make-miss league,” Wittman said, “and right now we’re struggling to put the ball in the basket.” Bradley Beal led Washington with 20 points on nine shots from the field, and Gortat added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Wall was far less efficient, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-25 shooting as his personal struggles peaked with his two late missed free throws. The 25 field goal attempts were the point guard’s most in a game since he launched 30 against the Hornets in March. “I was being aggressive,” Wall said. “I think I still was finding my teammates at times. I just found shots that I thought I could make on some good looks, and they just didn’t fall.” Without Nene (calf), Gary Neal (groin) and Drew Gooden III (groin), Washington’s bench compiled just eight points. Kyle Lowry led the Raptors with 27 points on 9-for-19 shooting, and DeMar DeRozan added 20 points. Toronto’s other three starters combined for 10 points as the Raptors (11-6) were able to overcome 22 turnovers. “It was better,” Wall said of Washington’s defense. “It was the way coach wanted us to play, being aggressive.” But the Wizards needed one more stop once Wall missed his two free throws, and they couldn’t deliver against a play that Wall said the Raptors had run against them before in Toronto. First, DeMarre Carroll inbounded the ball to DeRozan, who had Ramon Sessions covering him because of a switch off a screen, while Lowry stood behind the half-court line occupying Wall. DeRozan then turned the corner with a head of steam and Garrett Temple, stationed on the weak side, decided to leave Joseph to impede DeRozan’s penetration. DeRozan then opted to pass the ball to the wide-open Joseph, who calmly set his feet and nailed the shot to prolong Washington’s misery. “Everybody has to do more now,” Gortat said. “Everybody, including me. It’s not easy, but we got to cut the negativity we have coming from players, coaches, staff, media. We just got to cut that. It’s not even fun coming here anymore. There’s so much negativity. I understand we’re losing games but, damn, we just got to cut that right now, man. It’s not fun at all.” |