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GAME INFO
Scotiabank Arena | 6 p.m. | TV: NBCSW | Radio: 106.7 FM & Wizards App
The Wizards are in Toronto on Sunday night, taking on the Raptors at 6 p.m. in the first game of a road back-to-back. Washington is looking to rebound from a loss to Cleveland on Friday night while Toronto comes in off a win over the defending-champion Bucks.
INJURY REPORT
WIZARDS: Thomas Bryant (left ACL injury recovery – out), Rui Hachimura (return to competition reconditioning – out)
RAPTORS: OG Anunoby (left hip pointer – out), Khem Birch (right knee swelling – out), Goran Dragic (not with team – out)
STORYLINES
Wizards open stretch of nine road games in 19 days
Sunday’s game in Toronto is the first of a stretch in which Washington will play nine of their next 10 games on the road. After taking on the Raptors, Washington will head to Indianapolis for a Monday-night matchup with the Pacers and close out the three-game trip Wednesday night in Detroit. Following a home matchup with the Jazz next weekend, the Wizards embark on a six-game road trip to Denver, Sacramento, Phoenix, Utah, Brooklyn and New York – their longest trip of the season.
For the Wizards, who have played so well at Capital One Arena this season, racking up nine wins in 12 opportunities, the road presents a different challenge. Bradley Beal and Spencer Dinwiddie spoke earlier this week about they keys to success on the road and the opportunities such a trip can present.
“One, taking care of your body,” Beal said. “Two, being more consistent…Finding a sustainable way of winning. I think a lot of our wins earlier in the year – we know we can’t win like that against good teams…We just have to be better prepared knowing night-in and night-out, teams are going to give us their best. We’re a team that teams want to come after so we have to understand we’re going to get everybody’s best…This is a big road trip ahead of us.”
“The road can be good in terms of banding together as a group,” Dinwiddie said. “Obviously we’re a new group so we can take some of that time to coalesce and…keep moving forward.”
Avdija looks to continue strong play vs. Toronto
On the heels of weeks of praise and recognition for how far he has come as defender, developing into a highly rated player the Wizards can stick on nearly any opponent of any skillset, Deni Avdija is coming off his best offensive performance of the season. The second-year pro recorded season highs of 16 points and three 3-pointers against the Cavaliers on Friday– and now matches up against a Toronto team he’s had success against in recent games. Avdija did a little bit of everything in Washington’s season-opening win over Toronto, totaling eight points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks – and was plus-13 in 21 minutes. Avdija finished with 11 points, six rebounds and was plus-five in 25 minutes in the teams’ second meeting this season. And in one of his two matchups against the Raptors last season, Avdija recorded one of his three career double-doubles.
Scouting the Raptors
After starting the season 6-3, including a two-game split with the Wizards, the Raptors have dropped 10 of their last 14 games and fallen to 12th in the tightly packed Eastern Conference. Pinpointing Toronto’s struggles is simple. In their first nine games of the season, they ranked seventh in the NBA with a 102.4 defensive rating. Since then, they’ve fallen to 30th, allowing 114.5 points per 100 possessions. Most of that time has been without OG Anunoby, a versatile wing whose ability to guard multiple positions is a huge boost for the defense, has missed the last eight games with a hip injury.
Toronto does, however, enter Sunday’s game with some positive momentum. The Raptors earned a win over the Giannis-less Bucks on Thursday night behind 29 points from Fred VanVleet and 20 points and eight rebounds from Pascal Siakam.
TICKETS
Tickets for all Wizards home games can be purchased HERE.