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DeMar DeRozan made a layup to put the Raptors up 15 with 2:36 remaining. With Toronto’s ninth straight victory locked up, the starters were pulled and Lucas Nogueira capped off an entertaining night for Raptors fans by hitting the first three-pointer of his career. After leading by 14 in the first half, the Raptors allowing Washington to hang around until the reserves-plus-Kyle Lowry lineup began the fourth quarter and quickly pulled away, rolling to a 106-89 victory. The win moves Toronto to 30-15 on the season.

Kyle Lowry left the game with 3:42 remaining after appearing to injure his wrist when he got caught on a screen. After heading to the locker room, Lowry had x-rays taken. The team announced that they were negative after the game and Lowry told the media he thought it was something worse than what it was when it happened, and that, “I’m fine.”

Terrence Ross had 15 points against the Wizards, marking the sixth time in the previous seven games he’s reached double figures. For the month of January, he’s averaging 9.8 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 43 percent from beyond the arc.

The victory was the ninth straight for Toronto, tying their longest winning streak in team history (Mar. 22 - Apr. 3, 2002). It also marked the 20th consecutive game the team has won when holding the opponent to less than 100 points, which is the second longest steak in team history. On the season, the team is 25-3 when holding opponents under the century mark.

Kyle Lowry was fantastic against the Wizards, scoring a game-high 29 points in 37 minutes. He shot 8-for-14 from the floor, making five of nine attempts from beyond the arc and all eight of his free throws. Lowry added four rebounds, four assists and two steals and propelled the team in the fourth when he starred alongside the bench lineup.

Cory Joseph added another solid performance off the bench, scoring 10 points in 25 minutes. Joseph shot 5-of-7 from the floor while adding two rebounds and six assists. The team was a +15 with Joseph on the floor.

“I think we will all look back on it after the season is over. Look at the individual accomplishments, the team accomplishments. Enjoy it when we’re not in the midst of it. Right now we’re too focused on our next opponent, which is the New York Knicks. It’s time to get focused for them. We’re just taking it game by game, day by day, hour by hour. We’re coming in tomorrow to watch the film from tonight and start preparing for the Knicks on Thursday. Let everybody else enjoy it. We’ll’ enjoy it later.”- Kyle Lowry bringing perspective to the team’s mindset with respect to the nine-game winning streak

48… Rebounds for the Raptors compared to 35 for the Wizards. Toronto also held an 11-7 edge on the offensive glass.11… Made three-pointers for Toronto. Kyle Lowry led the way with five three-pointers, one more than Washington’s team total (4).18… Toronto won despite being way too carless with the ball, racking up 18 turnovers. Washington scored 28 points off Toronto’s miscues.5… Players in double figures for the Raptors: Lowry (29), DeRozan (17), Valanciunas (13), Ross (15) and Joseph (10).

“The whole bench, +19 from Bismack [Biyombo], +22 from Patrick [Patterson], +14 from Terrence [Ross] and +15 from Cory [Joseph]. That’s huge for us to continue through this. If we had to ride the starters and depend on the tonight we would have been in trouble. The bench came in and saved us. Terrence's shooting and scoring, creating off the dribble is something that is really, really good to see.”- Dwane Casey on the bench continuing to come up big“We take every game on game at a time. Every game is the biggest game, so you have to take advantage of everything. You have to e on our P’S and Q’s, you have to ball out and that’s what we’re trying to do.”- Terrence Ross on the team's focus“It says a lot. It just lets you know that it’s scary if we get it rolling on both ends, and we play a complete game, anything is possible. We feel that we can beat anybody and compete with anybody on any single night. We have to continue to get better that that.”- DeMar DeRozan on the team finding a way to win easily when they haven’t played particularly well.“I think I can be more efficient. I think I can shoot the ball better and I think I can make better plays for my teammates. I made some bad defensive plays tonight that I think I can cut out. I always hold myself to a higher standard and I think I try to play a mistake-free game. I know basketball isn’t a mistake-free game but I just try to play at the highest level that I can.”- Kyle Lowry on what he feels he can improve in his game

The Raptors take on the New York Knicks at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday at 8 P.M. ET. The game will be televised on TNT in the U.S. and SN1 in Canada. Prior to the game, the league will announce All-Star reserves.

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Game Rap: Raptors 106, Wizards 89

Toronto (29-15) hosts Washington (20-22) tonight at Air Canada Centre, looking to sweep their season series. The Wizards will be licking their wounds after a 25-point home loss to Boston last night. The Raptors enter the game red hot and are winners of eight straight following a 21-point victory over the Clippers on Sunday.

Bradley Beal – There's something about the Toronto Raptors that brings the best out of Beal. The Wizards shooting guard has missed the teams' previous two matchups but did take part in their 11/28 contest, putting up 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. In the five games played since returning from a month out through injury, Beal has averaged 14 points while he attempts to get back to full game speed.

DeMar DeRozan&lt;/strong – Similar to Beal, DeRozan’s eyes seem to light up when he plays Washington. In three contests against the Wizards this season, the Raptors shooting guard is averaging an impressive 30 points per game and most importantly, has won all three. Toronto vs. Washington is the main event but an interesting subplot will be the battle between DeRozan and Beal especially if they end up guarding each other.

In Sunday’s win over the Clippers, the Raps bench was on fire, combining to score a season-high 51 points.

In Lowry &amp; DeRozan, Toronto has a one-two punch that matches any in the association. In fact, they are currently ranked as the highest scoring backcourt duo in the league at more than 43 combined points per game. Their nightly contributions are usually enough to keep the Raptors competitive in most games. But when the bench steps up and performs the way they have of late, this team becomes very difficult to beat.

In the past 12 games, Toronto has won the battle of the reserves, outscoring the opposing team’s bench on 10 occasions. The team is also 5-0 when they score 40+ points.

One player in particular has been in fine form of late and that’s Terrence Ross. The former eighth overall pick has scored in double figures off the bench in four-straight games, averaging 14.3 points. During this stretch, he’s shooting .714 (20-for-28) from the field and .684 (13-for-19) from beyond the arc.

When Ross, Patrick Patterson, Bismack Biyombo and Cory Joseph can come in and make a difference, as they have been doing, it allows Dwane Casey to find opportunities to rest the likes of Lowry, DeRozan and JV.

With games sandwiched in before and after the All-Star break, plus their heavy 16-game schedule in March, Toronto will need all hands on deck as they bid to stay close to the top of the Eastern Conference.

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Game Day: Raptors vs. Wizards

DeMar DeRozan drilled two free throws with a minute remaining to extend Toronto’s lead to 10 points. The free throws capped off a  35-point effort from DeRozan and helped Toronto roll to a 97-88 victory. The win moves Toronto to 23-15 on the season.

Toronto fell back into the habit of getting off to a slow start against the Wizards and trailed by eight after the first quarter. The Raptors managed just 18 points and shot 30 percent while giving up 48 percent shooting to Washington. The team also turned the ball over six times and didn’t lead in the quarter.

After outscoring Washington 29-21 in the second quarter to tie the game at 47 at the half, the Raptors came out ready to play in the third. Toronto shot 50 percent from the floor, held the Wizards to 32 percent shooting, and outscored them 26-14 behind an 11-point quarter from DerRozan to take a 12-point lead into the fourth.

Terrence Ross left the game in the fourth quarter with 8:47 to play because of a sore lower back and did not return. His status for Saturday’s game is unknown. Prior to his exit, Ross had seven points on 3-for-4 shooting in 18 minutes.

DeMar DeRozan scored a season-high 35 points and grabbed eight rebounds against the Wizards. He shot 11-for-24 from the floor and 12-for-13 from the free throw line while adding an assist and a steal in nearly 40 minutes of action.

Kyle Lowry got off to a quiet start in Washington, but was solid when it mattered, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter on a perfect 3-for-3 field goals. It was another night of stuffing the stat sheet for Lowry who finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot in 41 minutes. He made three of his six attempts from beyond the arc and finished 8-for-18 from the floor.

“He’s just that good. He’s an All-Star, personally, in my opinion. He’s a guy that goes out there every single night leading our team in scoring. That’s what he does for us. He scores the ball for us.”- Kyle Lowry on another big night from DeMar DeRozan

26… Free throw attempts for Toronto, compared to just 15 for the Wizards. The Raptors made 24 of 26 attempts (92 percent).23… Turnovers for the Raptors, 19 for Washington. In a battle of Eastern Conference point guards, Kyle Lowry had six turnovers and John Wall finished with seven.13… Blocks for Toronto, a season-high. Jonas Valanciunas and Bismack Biyombo each had four blocks.8… Points and nine rebounds for James Johnson who had a solid night starting in place of the injured DeMarre Carroll.47… boards for the Raptors who outrebounded the Wizards by 12 in the game.17… Second-chance points on 7-for-10 field goals for Toronto compared with seven for Washington.

“I tell you what this team plays so fast, it does speed you up. We made up for it with our defence in the second half, but we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and making the easy pass.”- Dwane Casey on the team winning despite 23 turnovers“He had a double-double with rebounds, too. He played big. Kyle’s always seems to play big and he’s always going to find a way.”- DeMar DeRozan on Kyle Lowry’s double-double“I think we just concentrated on our defensive effort. They play with tempo and they play freely, loose and they got into us a lot offensively. Our offence was dictating our defence. Coach got on us a little bit about letting our offence dictate our defence. We picked it up defensively. No matter what, if our offence wasn’t going we still had to play defence just as tough.”- Kyle Lowry on picking up the defensive intensity in the second half“We’re trying to be like Bismack Biyombo. That’s all I can say. We see him block shots and we try to follow his lead.”- DeMar DeRozan on the team’s 13 blocked shots“DeMar has been playing efficient basketball for the last couple of weeks, the last month I’d say. Tonight I think he got frustrated in the first half, they were into him. And he made a conscious effort of taking things into his own hands, playing through contact, playing through their physicality. I thought Washington played hard, especially in the first half really got into us defensively and made it hard on us. He made an effort to fight through that and get things done.”- Dwane Casey on another strong night from DeRozan

The Raptors will take on the Philadelphia 76ers in the second game of a back-to-beck on Saturday at 7:30 P.M. ET.

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Game Rap: Raptors 97, Wizards 88

Toronto (22-15) is in D.C. tonight to take on the Wizards (15-18) at Verizon Center. These two teams squared off just 10 days ago and since then the Raptors have gone 2-2 including a most recent victory in Brooklyn Wednesday night. Washington meanwhile have dropped back-to-back games at home to Miami and Cleveland.

John Wall – Washington’s point-guard thinks he deserves to be an All-Star and he’s playing like one. The NBA’s player of the month in December has elevated his game after a slow start and is averaging 20 points, four rebounds and 10 assists on the season. It has usually been a feisty encounter when the Raptors and Wizards match up and in their last two encounters, Wall is averaging 19 points, five rebounds and eight assists.

Jonas Valanciunas – With an honourable mention to Kyle Lowry, the return of Toronto’s starting centre from a 17-game absence has provided a boost to a Raptors team that has been hit hard by the injury bug. Valanciunas has had to find his feet since making his comeback on December 30th, averaging a steady nine points and eight rebounds in his first five games back. It was in Brooklyn on Wednesday where the big Lithuanian broke loose, dropping a team-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, propelling the Raps to a road win over the Nets.

Given the rejuvenation of the Eastern Conference this year, each and every game dropped hurts that much more. In the Raptors case, back-to-back losses to conference rivals Chicago and Cleveland earlier in the week, may have caused some tension within the Toronto fanbase.

Supporters are passionate and overreactions are common but the one thing that cures all is a victory.

After dropping a game that was within their grasp against the Bulls, followed by a defeat in Cleveland, Toronto was looking at four-straight fixtures on the road before an extended run of games back at Air Canada Centre.

On top of that, news of DeMarre Carroll being shut down due to right knee surgery, The Raptors were looking for some positives to cling to.

Toronto entered Brooklyn Wednesday night looking to right the ship and they did just that with a relatively comfortable 91-74 victory over the Nets. Rookies Norman Powell and Delon  Wright managed to grab some minutes near the end of the contest as all 13 players saw the floor for Dwane Casey’s team.

A subheadline in tonight’s game is the two teams' star point guards battling it out on and off the court.

Washington and Toronto have faced each other on two occasions this season, both resulting in Raptor wins. As mentioned above, Wall has put up solid numbers against T.O. but so has Lowry with the Raps point guard averaging 19 points, five rebounds and five assists over the two games.

Off the court, last season’s starting backcourt in the All-Star game, Lowry and Wall both have aspirations of returning to the mid-season classic this year in Toronto.

The NBA last released updated voting results yesterday afternoon. Lowry sits third and Wall is fifth with only 35k votes separating the two.

Although both players' minds will be focused solely on the game tonight, there is no getting around this All-Star matchup where fans will be hoping their player and team comes out on top.

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Game Day: Raptors @ Wizards

DeMarre Carroll blocked John Wall’s three-point attempt to seal the win after Kyle Lowry calmly made two free throws to put Toronto up three with 15.5 seconds remaining.

After leading by as many as 14 points early in the fourth, the Toronto offence stalled and the Wizards went on an 8-0 run to close the gap and make for a stressful final few minutes. The Raptors managed just 17 points in the quarter and were scoreless for a 4:40 minute stretch as Washington made its run. They shot 3-for-17 in the fourth, but made 11 of 14 free throws as DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry shot a perfect 9-for-9 on free throws in the final four minutes.

Terrence Ross drove through traffic to throw down a thunderous dunk in the fourth quarter. It was the kind of play that showcased Ross' unique blend of athleticism, power and grace and it was worthy of the many vine and instagram replays it received.

DeMar DeRozan capped off a brilliant December with a fantastic outing against the Wizards. DeRozan tied a season-high with 34 points to go with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots. He shot 15-for-15 from the free throw line and 1-for-3 from beyond the arc in 37 minutes. DeRozan has averaged 24.4 points on 48 percent shooting for the month of December.

Bismack Biyombo was at his best on Wednesday, contributing a 12-point,12-rebound double-double in 27 minutes of action. He was extremely active on both ends of the floor and altered many more shots than the two blocks he was credited for. Biyombo has been huge for the Raptors while Jonas Valanciunas was injured and he will continue to be an important part of their defence as he resumes his role off the bench.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be for us. The shots aren’t always going to fall, but having defence to lean back on and help us get through games, that’s what we need to be consistent with.”- Terrence Ross on grinding out a win on the defensive end

30… Bench points for the Raptors compared to 19 for the Wizards. Terrence Ross led Toronto’s reserves with 14 points on 6-for-12 field goals and 2-for-4 three-point field goals.55… Rebounds for Toronto, who outrebounded Washington by 11 (55-44), including 15-8 on the offensive glass.39… Free throw attempts for the Raptors who shot 82 percent from the line, making 32 of their attempts. DeRozan, who was a perfect 15-for-15 from the free throw line, had more made free throws than the Wizards who shot 13-for-17 in the game.

“It felt good. We’re still trying to get JV back into game speed, and DC with his limited minutes. Every game is going to be a process and I think it’s going to continue to get better. It feels good to just have everyone be healthy again.”- DeMar DeRozan on closing out the year with the starting lineup in tact“This is about the team. It’s not about playing a lot of minutes or not, it’s about doing your job, contributing to the victory to the team. We’re going for something bigger than just somebody playing minutes or taking 20 shots. I think we did a good job in the first half. The second half was a little shaky and then we found a way to get back into the game. At the end of the day the only thing that matters to us is winning the game. I’m glad we got to finish the year the right way. We’ve got to learn from a lot of our mistakes we made today and build from that.”- Bismack Biyombo on a strong performance off the bench“He’s making shots. He was the only guy out there making a threat from the three and that was the main thing. We were running plays for him, running sets for him. He was coming off screens and knocking it down. Defensively he did a good job but offensively, he was one guy we could run a play for where he was kind of running free. DeMar had to work every ounce, Kyle had to work for every ounce they got and for whatever reason, they were losing T-Ross off pin-downs and screens.”- Dwane Casey on the boost Terrence Ross provided off the bench“It says a lot. That’s what we’re going to need to depend on. We’re going to have games where everyone is going to be hot and making shots. And there are going to be games when we’re not making shots and we’ve got to depend on our defence. I think that’s going to be great for us in the long run.”- DeMar DeRozan on winning a game where the team shot 34 percent from the floor“It’s very rare that you shoot 34 percent and put yourself in a position to win a game. And 18 turnovers. That’s probably as bad offensively as we’ve played all year. We’ll take it. We’ll learn from it. Get better from it on the offensive end. We held them to 40 percent, but we’ve got to execute better offensively, especially down the stretch.”- Dwane Casey on his team grinding out a tough win

The Raptors kick off 2016 by hosting the Charlotte Hornets on Friday at 7:30 P.M. ET at the Air Canada Centre.

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Game Rap: Raptors 94, Wizards 91

Toronto (19-13) returns home to host Washington (14-15) tonight at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors split a two-game set on the road over the holidays and are coming off a defeat in Chicago two days ago. The Wizards also played Monday and had their four-game winning streak snapped with a loss to the Clippers.

John Wall – After an uncharacteristically slow start to the season, John Wall has stepped his play up to a different level of late. Over his past 10 contests, Wall is averaging 20 points, 13 assists and five rebounds per game. The Kentucky product has taken on extra responsibility in the absence of Bradley Beal and prior to the Wizards loss on Monday night to Los Angeles, he had helped lead Washington to four-straight wins.

Kyle Lowry – When you mention John Wall, Kyle Lowry’s name is usually next in the conversation and vice-versa. Both teams' point guards have usually found themselves linked in recent times whether it be competing for an All-Star selection or on the court in the regular season and the playoffs. After a mini-rough patch for Lowry, the Raptors point guard has rebounded nicely and been back to his usual self of late. He was everywhere Monday night, putting up a line of 28 points, six rebounds, nine assists and three steals in a loss to Chicago.

Prior to Monday’s loss to the Bulls, the Raptors second unit had been playing well and was a main reason for the team’s success during that time.

Terrence Ross has stepped up his game averaging 11 points per game, while shooting 41% from beyond the arc in the month of December. Compare that with averages of four points and 27% 3FG shooting in November.

Monday night was a different story as the bench went cold. Key reserves in Joseph, Patterson and Ross combined to shoot 7/25 and were outscored by Chicago’s second unit 51-27 with nine of those points coming from Jonas Valanciunas on his return to the lineup.

“We got to have some support from our second unit,” was Coach Casey’s assessment Monday night. "Whatever we have to do to get ourselves mentally ready to play off the bench, we got to have that,” he added.

With the recent returns of DeMarre Carroll and Valanciunas, players should go back to their normal rotations and the hope is that should allow both units time to re-develop their chemistry and thus contribute to the team’s overall success.

Similar to the Wall &amp; Lowry link, the Wizards and Raptors have developed a sort of rivalry in recent times.

The two teams' relationship tends to be a bit Jekyl and Hyde with Toronto dominating their regular season matchups and Washington having swept the Raptors in last year’s playoffs.

This competitive nature has carried over into this season where the Raps and Wiz squared off on November 28th in Washington. That game ended with Raptors point guard Cory Joseph hitting a game-winning corner three.

The rematch will take place tonight in Toronto however both teams will look slightly different than they did in their first meeting back in late November.

Bradley Beal, who usually brings his A game vs. T.O., will be unavailable tonight after suffering a stress reaction in his right leg on December 11th. That will come as good news for Raptors fans as Beal posted 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals last time they played. On the other hand, Jonas Valanciunas should be back again after returning from injury which had kept him out of the November 28th contest.

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John Wall missed two free throws with three seconds remaining and the Wizards ahead by one. On Toronto’s final possession of the game, DeMar DeRozan drove baseline and found Cory Joseph in the opposite corner for the game-winning three-pointer. The 84-82 comeback victory is Toronto’s fourth straight, and moves them to 11-6 on the season.

After trailing for most of the game, the Raptors dialled up their defence in the fourth quarter as they made their push. The Raptors held Washington to 26-percent shooting in the final frame, while making 47 percent of their own attempts and were able to get enough stops down the stretch to overcome a season-high 22 turnovers.

DeMar DeRozan finding Cory Joseph and delivering a perfect pass for the buzzer-beating three.

Joseph saved the Raptors from a disappointing loss with his first game-winning shot in a Toronto Raptors uniform. Joseph continues to show up every night for Toronto and played 34 minutes on Saturday,  finishing the game with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, to go with six assists and a steal.

Bismack Biyombo has been huge for the Raptors in Jonas Valanciunas’ absence. One game after clinching a victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers with back-to-back dunks, Biyombo hauled down 16 rebounds against the Wizards to go with two assists, a steal and four blocked shots.

“I knew if I got it to him clean, he was going to knock it down. That’s just Cory. You can trust him with something like that.”- DeMar DeRozan on Cory Joseph’s buzzer-beater

7… Blocked shots for Toronto compared to three for the Wizards.33… Percent shooting for the Wizards for the game. As Dwane Casey continues to stress the importance of being a defensive-minded team, he has to be pleased with the defensive commitment from his team when things aren’t going well offensively.22… Turnovers. The Raptors survived despite having double the turnovers of their opponent.27… Points from Toronto’s bench, compared to just eight for the Wizards’ reserves.11… made three-pointers for Toronto. Kyle Lowry made six of his 11 attempts from beyond the arc as he scored 27 points in the victory.

“It was a good shot, I guess. DeMar trusted me to take it, he passed it, and I was able to knock it down.”- Cory Joseph on his game-winning shot“The play was for DeMar to catch it and get something quick. He had the presence of mind with a very short period of time to make a play and he did.”- Dwane Casey on the final play call that led to Cory Joseph’s game winner“Give all the credit to DeMar and Cory for that win. That was a hell of a pass and hell of a shot. I think we’re just happy to come out of there with the win.”- Kyle Lowry on the final possession“He anchored us. He started us off. He always pushes everyone. He’s always saying. ‘Let’s get a stop. Let’s see what we can do out here. Let’s get something done, fellas. He might not be scoring, but the things he did tonight; protecting the rim, grabbing every rebound that was up there that he could. He even kept a few loose balls alive. He’s just playing incredible basketball right now. We really appreciate what he’s doing for us.”- Kyle Lowry on Bismack Biyombo’s impact on the floor“Our defence won it for us. It was probably one of our worst offensive games, with 22 turnovers, [but] guys stuck with it. We were so discombobulated offensively, didn’t take care of the ball, but our defence saved us. It goes to show you, a defensive focus and a defensive effort will win games for you.”- Dwane Casey on his team winning with defence

The Raptors immediately fly back to Toronto where they will face the Phoenix Suns at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday at 6 P.M ET.

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Game Rap: Raptors 84, Wizards 82

It’s back on the road in Washington tonight to take on the Wizards (6-7). This will be a short trip for the Raptors (10-6) who return home Sunday, for seven of the next eight at Air Canada Centre. The Raps go into tonight well rested after a  Drake Night win on Wednesday over Cleveland. Washington is coming off a 33 point defeat in Boston last night.

Marcin Gortat – “The Polish Hammer,” has kicked it up a notch of late posting a combined 21 rebounds in Washington’s back-to-back earlier this week. Gortat’s season averages of 11 points and eight rebounds are not necessarily indicative of his full potential. The Wizards centre has often proved a thorn in the Raptors side in the past. Toronto is still without the injured Jonas Valanciunas and will have to do their best to contain the pick-and-roll threat Gortat and Wall present.

Kyle Lowry –  The Raptors point guard is making this an easy selection recently. Lowry had another strong game on Wednesday in front of Drake and a sold-out Air Canada Centre resulting in a Raptors win over the Cavaliers. Lowry caught fire in the second half and finished as the game’s leading scorer with 27 points while adding six assists and four more steals to his league-leading average.

Tonight’s game marks the first regular-season meeting with the Wizards since the 2015 Playoffs. Although the same core players should be fit to play tonight, both teams have made changes in the offseason and the new faces will not have felt the impact of Washington’s sweep of Toronto in April.

Last seaon’s Playoffs result may have seemed odd given Toronto has won seven of the last eight regular-season meetings with Washington, including a 120-116 overtime victory Jan. 31, 2015 at Verizon Center. Tonight will be the first of four meetings between the two teams, which will all be played by the end of January.

Washington enjoys playing an up-tempo game and have quick guards in John Wall and Bradley Beal who suit that style of play. They also have Marcin Gortat and Nene, more traditional big men who play closer to the paint. As mentioned above, Gortat has given this team problems in the past but so far this year the Raptors appear to have shored up on the defensive end. Toronto’s defence is holding opponents to 38.9 points in the paint, which ranks fourth in the NBA.

New Raptor Bismack Biyombo can be credited with a big role in the team’s improved defence. He has been thrust into a starting role in the absence of Jonas Valanciunas and has performed admirably, averaging nine points and 13 rebounds in his time as a starter.

Listen to Biyombo speak about his impact on this Raptors team so far at practice yesterday.

Toronto selected Delon Wright with the 21st overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft. The team coveted the point guard’s athleticism and most importantly, his decision-making skills on the defensive end of the floor.

Wright has found playing time difficult to come by so far this season. Behind the strong play of Kyle Lowry and Cory Joseph, the Raptors have not had many opportunities to incorporate a third point guard into the rotation.

These types of situations are exactly why the franchise pursued and ultimately were successful in obtaining their own NBA Development League team in the Raptors 905.

Led by former Raps assistant coach, Jesse Mermuys, Raptors 905 has provided players such as Lucas Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo the opportunity to hone their skills while most importantly getting the game time they desperately need.

Wright suited up for the D-League affiliate for the first time on Wednesday night and immediately impressed. He scored a team-high 24 points on a perfect 9-9 shooting in a Raptors 905 victory over Idaho.