The Toronto Raptors, in a tight battle with a number of teams for playoff positioning, were in serious need of a victory on Friday night. One of those contenders, the Washington Wizards, had just rolled over on the Raptors in their own building. Losing again would have been a serious blow.
Instead, Toronto turned the tables on the home team. Despite blowing all of a hard-earned 19-point lead, the Raptors were the better team in Q4. Led by a remarkable game from shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, Toronto bent but didn’t break, and hit key shots under shots.