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____________AT________

____29-28 (5th East/2nd Southeast Div)___________________32-25 (3rd East/1st Atlantic Div)
_________14-14 Road, 20-14 vs East_________________________16-11 Home, 22-13 vs East
__________5-5 Last 10, Streak: W4 ___________________________7-3 Last 10, Streak: W3


Representing the most powerful city in the world, YOUR Washington Wizards embark on a road trip across the border for a Thursday night match-up versus the hot Toronto Raptors. Both teams come into the game on a bit of a tear -- the Wizards sporting a 4-game winning streak which has brought them, again, above the .500 mark. Good enough for 5th in a weak Eastern Conference. Toronto are winners of the last three, 7 of their last 10. They sit atop the Atlantic Conference and third in the East.

The Raptors are led by All-Star SG DeMar DeRozan, who is coming off of a good game on Tuesday versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. DeRozan torched the Cavs for 33 points on 12-25 shooting and added 4 boards and 6 dimes just for good measure. Point guard Kyle Lowry always seems to play well versus the Wiz as well. He's coming off of a subpar shooting night (3-15) and will surely be pumped up to match up with Wizards PG John Wall.

The Wizards take the court for the second time following PF/C Nene Hilario's recent MCL sprain. Their most recent win on Tuesday (vs Orlando) featured 20+ point performances by four different players -- PG John Wall, SG Bradley Beal, SF Trevor Ariza, and C Marcin Gortat. The Wiz will have to again rely on an all-hands-on-deck approach in Nene's absence and head coach Randy Wittman will have to find a way to coax additional production from his bench. On Wednesday, the Wizards signed F Drew Gooden to a 10-day deal in order to bolster the bench. PF/C Kevin Seraphin and PF Trevor Booker are nursing sore knees.

Line-Ups


________________________________________
_____________PG John Wall_____________________________________PG Kyle Lowry
_____19.8 ppg (43% fg, 33% 3pt, 83% ft)___________________16.9 ppg (43% fg, 30% 3pt, 80% ft)
_____8.6 apg, 4.3 rpg, 2.0 spg, 0.5 bpg____________________7.6 apg, 4.5 rpg, 1.1 spg, 0.4 bpg



________________________________________
_____________SG Bradley Beal_________________________________SG DeMar DeRozan
_____16.9 ppg (41% fg, 42% 3pt, 81% ft)___________________22.5 ppg (43% fg, 38% 3pt, 82% ft)
_____3.5 apg, 3.7 rpg, 0.9 spg, 0.2 bpg____________________3.8 apg, 4.5 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.2 bpg



________________________________________
_____________SF Trevor Ariza_________________________________SF Terrence Ross
_____14.3 ppg (45% fg, 41% 3pt, 78% ft)___________________10.6 ppg (42% fg, 40% 3pt, 82% ft)
_____2.7 apg, 6.6 rpg, 1.9 spg, 0.3 bpg____________________0.9 apg, 3.1 rpg, 0.8 spg, 0.4 bpg



________________________________________
____________PF Trevor Booker________________________________PF Amir Johnson
______6.2 ppg (54% fg, 0% 3pt, 53% ft)____________-________10.3 ppg (55% fg, 26% 3pt, 70% ft)
_____5.6 rpg, 0.9 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.4 bpg____________________6.6 rpg, 1.4 apg, 0.7 spg, 1.1 bpg



________________________________________
_____________C Marcin Gortat_______________________________C Jonas Valanciunas
_____12.3 ppg (54% fg, 100% 3pt, 68% ft)___________________10.4 ppg (51% fg, 00% 3pt, 74% ft)
___-__8.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.5 spg, 1.5 bpg____________________8.6 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.9 bpg


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What: Washington Wizards at Toronto Raptors
When: 7:00 p.m. EST
Where: Air Canada Centre -- Toronto, Ontario
Radio: WFED-AM, 1500
TV: CSN+, NBA League Pass, Quasi-legal internet streams

Let's go Wizards!

As I recall, Nene wasn't good against TOR last week and we made our late run we went small. So hopefully Nene's absence doesn't hurt us too much. We need to move the ball, make shots and drive hard to the rim.

Let's beat these guys.

No way they beat us 4 times right?

fishercob wrote:As I recall, Nene wasn't good against TOR last week and we made our late run we went small. So hopefully Nene's absence doesn't hurt us too much. We need to move the ball, make shots and drive hard to the rim.

Let's beat these guys.

Was this the game that Nene kinda shot us out of? I remember a specific game where he kept shooting 8-12 foot jumpers and they kept missing. It was recent, like in the last two weeks.

BOLD PREDICTION:

Beal drops 35+

Caps it off with a dunk on Psycho-T.

**** Canada













We prolly gonna lose still tho :/

We have no chance of winning this game. Therefore, we will win.

Raptors have the Wiz #... sure loss, back to .500

We have to win the battle of the backcourts. That will mean a lot psychologically - going forward, imo.

Watch out for Patrick Patterson off the bench.

Ruzious wrote:We have to win the battle of the backcourts. That will mean a lot psychologically - going forward, imo.

Watch out for Patrick Patterson off the bench.

As you pointed out earlier, PP really has been fabulous in Toronto. I'm curious as to why he's been so much better there and in Sacto.

This is a guaranteed loss.

I'd be a bit more optimistic if we had one of Booker or Seraphin healthy. At least then we'd have a chance at an "X Factor" type of influence if one of them happened to have a great game. But without them, we are going to get owned on defense so bad that even a hot shooting night from the guards won't be enough to win the game.

Heck, that Orlando game was too close for comfort even though everyone shot well.

nate33 wrote:This is a guaranteed loss.

That's the spirit!

C Marcin Gortat ____12.3 ppg (54% fg, 100% 3pt, 68% ft)_

NEED MORE GORTAT 3's! We could win out!

Almost time to ASSUME THE POSITION

I'm tired of playing the Raptors.. Toronto and Cleveland, two teams I'm tired of seeing this season already lol

We're in decent position to get the 5 seed if we can just win most of the games we're favored to down the stretch. I think it was Ariza who said we never seem to come out with energy against Toronto, finally reversing that trend would be nice.

Really it's the ORL, MIL, PHI type games that are absolute must wins even without Nene. Don't know what to expect against other teams, maybe the small ball looks will help us.

fishercob wrote:

Ruzious wrote:We have to win the battle of the backcourts. That will mean a lot psychologically - going forward, imo.

Watch out for Patrick Patterson off the bench.

As you pointed out earlier, PP really has been fabulous in Toronto. I'm curious as to why he's been so much better there and in Sacto.

Good question for which I don't have a good answer. It might be that Toronto is simply better/more disciplined at moving the ball around - and a more unselfish team than Sacto.

We got this. I said that Nene is not a death sentence, Wall will go off without him, Al & Dre will help us a ton against these teams, and we matchup better against the Raps without Nene.

I think we win or we come very close. Wall will separate himself from Lowry and Harrington will be an ex factor while Beal will continue his good play of the last 2 games.

The bottom line is Wall will keep us in it with between 25-35 pts and upwards of double digit assist. The team is confident, we play better on the road, and they want the 3 seed whether they can get it or not. Toronto will be very cerebral while we will be very aggressive from the jump. Which side will win out?

It will come down to Wittless. Will he make the right decisions at the right time or have dumb sub patterns and call terrible plays at the wrong time. It will be fun either way. I also expect another nice game from Gortat. solid atleast.

The Raps think Ross can shut Wall down. They will find out otherwise

Ruzious wrote:

fishercob wrote:

Ruzious wrote:We have to win the battle of the backcourts. That will mean a lot psychologically - going forward, imo.

Watch out for Patrick Patterson off the bench.

As you pointed out earlier, PP really has been fabulous in Toronto. I'm curious as to why he's been so much better there and in Sacto.

Good question for which I don't have a good answer. It might be that Toronto is simply better/more disciplined at moving the ball around - and a more unselfish team than Sacto.

I think that's definitely the case. I'm impressed with Toronto's coaching. Dwayne Casey isn't getting the publicity he deserves this season. That's a well coached team.

I would love for us to sign Patterson this summer.

Toronto has owned us each of the past 3 games because their bigs have speed and are mobile. It's nene's achille's heal. This is actually our best shot at beating them imo.

Sluggerface wrote:Toronto has owned us each of the past 3 games because their bigs have speed and are mobile. It's nene's achille's heal. This is actually our best shot at beating them imo.

Cause when I think speedy mobile bigs, I think Drew Gooden.


We're more than liked eff'd unless they have a cold shooting night, and with the way we're contesting shots, I doubt that happens.

Also, Jonas' per 36 numbers aren't too far off from Bookers...I mean I get that its only his 2nd season but his size he has to outproduce booker. Watch him go HAM on Gortat now :/