Well, that was ugly. The Toronto Raptors should have been able to defeat a Washington Wizards squad which had lost four of its last five outings and was missing point guard John Wall. Instead the home team was outplayed and outcoached from the opening tip.
The Raptors never led or even managed a tie in this putrid game. The Wizards raced out to a huge Q1 margin. Toronto’s offense couldn’t cope with Washington’s fierce perimeter defenders, who were clearly under orders not to give up shots. Yet the ball didn’t make it inside to any meaningful extent. Meantime, Bradley Beal picked up the scoring slack in Wall’s absence.