The Washington Wizards got on the board in the Eastern Conference quarter-final series on Friday night, beating the Toronto Raptors 122-103. While many thought that the Wizards simply didn’t have what it takes to compete in this series, they proved otherwise with a blowout win.
In terms of the betting line, the Wizards easily covered. They closed as a one-point favorite at BetDSI sportsbook and ended up winning by 19. In terms of the total, the game went over the closing number, which was 218.
Game 3 played out far differently from 1 and 2. In the two games in Toronto, the Wizards looked like they were playing uphill. They constantly trailed in the second halves and never really looked like they got on even footing. That was completely different in Game 3 where they played with the lead most of the game.
The Wizards had a one-point lead after one quarter and an eight-point lead at the half. Entering the fourth quarter, they were up by 18. More importantly, they found ways to slow down the Raptors offense, which seemed unstoppable in the first two contests. The Raptors scored less than 27 points in just one of the first eight quarters of basketball in this series. In Game 4, they scored just 21 in the third and 21 in the fourth, which is what did them in.
As for the Wizards, they finally found a supporting cast for John Wall. Namely, Brad Beal came to play and scored 28 points while chipping in four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Beal had just 28 points in total through the first two games. The Wizards also got 16 points from Marcin Gortat, 12 from Mike Scott and 12 from Kelly Oubre Jr.
As for the Raptors, they were led by 23 points from Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowery scored 18, but they were mostly done in by their defense, which allowed Washington to shoot 55.3% from the field, and 18 turnovers (compared to just 11 for the Wizards).
Game 4 of this series goes on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. ET.
