Washington @ Toronto

 

This match up was never meant to happen. The 7^th seed Washington Wizards took down the 2^nd seed Atlanta Hawks, 4-1 mind you, in what might be the biggest playoff upset for years in the NSL. Of course, we don’t know that yet, but it’s a rarity that is seen so little. The Raptors were the 3^rd seed and so have home court. 51-31 the far superior record over the Wizards sub .500, 37-45, but it doesn’t matter how you get here, just that you get here. The Raptors are the highly touted favourites with 2-1 in the pundit votes as they made light work of the Pistons 4-0 behind Damien Lillard, but a healthy Wizards team had not been seen for weeks prior to the playoffs. Everyone loves an underdog and the Wizards were just that.

 

Game 1 in Toronto and we saw the Raptors falter in the playoffs for the first time. There’s no sugar coating this game. They came out solidly, up 4 after one, but quickly went backwards down 3 at the half, 14 at 3.4 time and finally lost by 20. The Wizards were everywhere on both ends despite shooting sub 40% from the field. They won rebounds easily, they assisted nearly double and they dominated blocked shots. The Raptors usual 3 point game completely failed going 3-24 from deep including a combined 0-11 off the bench from Holiday/Fournier. 40 points paced the Wizards through Booker as 6 players hit double figures and Capela hauled in 19 rebounds. Lillard’s 36 was good, but there was not enough help around him. 1-0 Wizards.

 

Game 2 and the Raptors came out much more focussed despite being down 1 after one. They were up 5 at the half, still 4 at 3.4 and ran away 11 point winners in the end with Damien Lillard asserting himself for 39 points. Holiday also had 27 and 10-14 from the field, as the Raptors shot 51% for the game which was a far cry from game 1. Again the Wizards had more FG attempts buoyed by their offensive rebounding, but otherwise the game stats were in the balance save for the FT shooting. The total 24-19 attempts weren’t too far off, but the Wizards shot 68% to 91% and the point differential was 9 from the line. Booker topped 30 again, and Knox went for 26 off the bench, but it wasn’t enough. 1-1 tied.

 

Game 3 and we’re headed to Washington. The Wizards were keen to hold their new found home court and came out with a respectable 2 point lead, but the Raptors pushed back to lead by 2 at the half. The 2^nd half was a comparative white wash though as the home crowd got behind the Wizards and they won the 3^rd quarter by 10, and came home by another 8 points in the last to win by 16. Booker lead the scoring with 26 points, but it was his support cast that stole the show with 5 others in double figures, 3 of which had 16 or higher. Clint Capela hauled in 25 rebounds and Brandon Clarke had 17, which was the total of the rebound discrepancy as the Wizards again dominated offensive rebounds. Lillard and Holiday topped 20 for the Raptors, but only one other player hit double figures and they were vanquished. 2-1 Wizards.

 

Game 4 was one for the ages. The Raptors, now feeling the pressure, changed up the line up that had worked so well for so long shifting Vucevic to C and starting Holiday. It worked to an extent as Vucevic finally came alive going for 28 points and 17 rebounds. The Wizards still got the jump though, up 8 after one. It see-sawed back though as Toronto took the 2^nd by 10, leading by 2 at the half. The 3^rd was a stalemate as both teams shot the lights out for the entire game, 51% Raptors and 45% from deep, compared to 50.5% and 50% from deep. With the Raptors up 2 at ¾ time, the Wizards had to dig deep, and dig deep they did as they dropped 38 in the last to win by 5. Impressively, it was Booker’s passing that won the day in this one as he scored 21 but dished out 10 assists and had 2 teammates hit 24 each. Damien Lillard tried best, with 34 to lead the game, but in the end it was the couple of extra turnovers, generated from the couple of extra Wizard steals that appear to be the main culprit. 3-1 Wizards.

 

Game 5, back in Toronto, and it’s now do or die…well, it’s do or die now for any games past this for the Raptors. Evan Fournier was inserted into the starting line up, which seemed have limited numerical effect, but the Raptors finished this one strong when down 3 at the last break, to score 40 in the 4^th and claim the game by 8. It was the Lillard show as he poured in a series high 44 but had Vucevic again dominate at C with 17 and 20 as the rebound battle went their way for once, including the offensive rebounds. Their bigs played the passing lanes perfectly, each with 3 steals a piece, causing Booker and Ball to have 4 turnovers a piece and despite the Wizards having 6 players in double figures, the Raptors stayed alive. 3-2 Wizards.

 

Game 6 back in Washington and this would seem the perfect time for the Wizards to close out the series that they had worked so hard to be up in. Unfortunately, the trend shown at the end of Game 5 continued. They looked tired and were down 5 after one. Still down 3 at the half, they never really came out of the locker room in the 2^nd half as they went down 14 at ¾ time and finally lost by an astounding 33. Lillard had 32 points, Fournier starting again had 21 and Holiday 16, which was equal to the Wizards scoring effort of 16 from Booker. The Wizards however shot 35% and 27% from deep and were dominated on the boards and at the line. The series was now going back to Toronto in the balance for a win or go home game 7. 3-3 tied.

 

Game 7, win or go home, and could we have asked for a better game to finish out a series? In form true to the series, the game was a see-saw affair and a shoot out. Both teams hovered around 50% shooting for the game and both teams had some stellar performances. The Raptors asserted themselves massively early on, taking a formidable 15 point lead after one. That slowly whittled though with the Wizards getting it back to 9 at the half. Devin Booker was on fire then and throughout scoring a series high 45 points and shooting it nearly 60% from the field and 100% from the line. The 3^rd quarter was only a 1 point advantage to the Wizards which saw the game still 8 points to the Raptors at ¾ time, but the weight of the free throws and excellent 3 point shooting, of which the Wizards hit 9 more triples and took 12 more free throws, saw the last quarter flip the script by 14 to the Wizards, leaving them 6 point victors and progressing to the Eastern Conference Finals. Lillard was gallant with 34 points and Vucevic went for 27 and 23 as they won the rebounds again, but to no avail. 4-3 Wizards.

 

Congratulations to the Washington Wizards on progressing from the 7^th seed, through the 2^nd and 3^rd seeds to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. Amazingly, they were behind on the points and rebounds, and FG and FT percentages per game on the series, but still prevailed. Devin Booker was the series MVP behind 28.7 points per game. The Raptors had a fantastic season, but the story ends here.

 

Good luck to the Washington Wizards against the formidable Chicago Bulls.

 

- NSL Insider News.