John Wall and Bradley Beal give the Wizards advantage in the backcourt against Toronto later tonight. While the Raptors’ guards lead the league in backcourt scoring, the absence of point guard Kyle Lowry is a significant loss for Toronto.
As for Washington, Wall and Bradley spearhead Washington’s backcourt that ranks ninth in the league with 52.8 points per game. Wall scored 33 points back in Nov. 2, when the Wizards lost at home to Toronto, 113-103. Beal scored just 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field. Beal needs to churn out a better performance than that in order for Washington to offset whatever recipe Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan is going to cook tonight.
Hopefully for Washington, its bench will contribute more than the 11 points it managed in the first encounter this season with Toronto. Washington’s bench is second worst in the league with 14.2 PPG.
Washington is 4-1 ATS in its last five games in Toronto.
DeMar DeRozan scored 40 points in the first meeting with Toronto this season. He’ll get plenty of chances than usual to reach that scoring mark with the Raptors needing the dynamic guard to carry much of the offense, especially with Kyle Lowry out for a significant amount of time. Lowry is expected to miss four to five weeks due to a wrist injury.
DeRozan has already started lighting it up more the past three games, wherein he’s averaged 37.6 points. That stretch includes a 43-point explosion in the 107-97 win over Boston last Friday and his dropping of 37 points in a 92-91 road win over New York on Monday.
Toronto, which is on a four-game win streak, is trying to fill in Lowry’s void by utilizing Corey Joseph more. Joseph scored six points with four assists and two steals in the Knicks game.
The presence of Serge Ibaka is going to be a big help for Toronto’s interior defense that gave up 68 points in the paint to the Wizards in the first meeting. Ibaka has averaged 16 points, seven rebounds and a block in three games thus far in Raptors uniform.
Toronto is 5-0 SU (3-2 ATS) in its last five games against the Wizards.
