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Wizards fall in Game 5, 108-98

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The Raptors defended home court on Wednesday night, re-taking the series lead against the Wizards 3-2 with a 108-98 win. In a game that much closer than the score indicated, the Raptors used a 24-6 run in the fourth quarter to take Game 5.

DeMar DeRozan’s 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting led the Raptors to victory. Delon Wright had 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and hit a big triple with 3:38 to go to put the Raptors up 97-93. Toronto made 11-of-25 (44.0%) of their 3-pointers, while the Wizards only made 5-of-26 (19.2%).

In 44 minutes of action, John Wall led the Wizards with 26 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. Wall played the entire second half and made 10-of-21 field goals and 6-of-7 from the line. Bradley Beal added 20 points for the Wizards while Kelly Oubre Jr. finished with 14 off the bench and Marcin Gortat recorded a double-double.

Wall led the Wizards with 12 points in the first half, as the team trailed 48-47 despite only shooting 37.5%. Washington had 14 fast break points in the first 24 minutes, running on offense and pushing the pace as much as possible. Toronto was flat offensively in the first half, but DeRozan’s 20 points kept them ahead going into the locker room.

Washington had nine offensive rebounds in the first half, but only scored seven second chance points on 3-of-11 second chance field goal attempts. That would become a story for the entire game, as the Wizards finished with 14 offensive rebounds, but only had 10 points to show for it on 4-of-14 shooting opportunities. The team’s inability to score off extended possessions would end up costing them in the long run. Still, the Wizards out-rebounded the Raptors 50-35 in the game in what was a major positive in the game.

Both teams started scoring at will in a back-and-forth third quarter, with each team shooting over 50.0% and scoring 31 points. Wall and Beal had 10 and nine points respectively in the third, while the Raptors made 5-of-9 triples.

The Wizards opened up an 87-82 lead after an Oubre slam with 8:52 to go in the fourth, but the Raptors responded with an 8-0 run to retake the lead 90-87. From there, Toronto finished the game by forcing the Wizards into six of their 18 turnovers and holding them to 8-of-24 shooting overall in the quarter.

Down 3-2, the Wizards must win on Friday in D.C. to force a Game 7 on Sunday. Tip is still to be determined based on the results of other games around the league, but will be at either 6:00pm, 7:00pm, or 8:00pm.