DeMar DeRozan, Raptors Advance to 2nd Round with Win over John Wall, Wizards
The Toronto Raptors are on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the third year in a row after closing out their first-round series against the Washington Wizards on Friday at Capital One Arena in Washington.
DeMar DeRozan had a series-low 16 points, but Kyle Lowry picked up the slack with 24 points to lift the No. 1 seed to a 102-92 Game 6 win. The Raptors secured a 4-2 win in the competitive series while snapping Washington's eight-game home playoff winning streak.
Toronto will now take on either the Cleveland Cavaliers or Indiana Pacers in the next round, a series that could also end Friday night with the Cavs up 3-2.
Washington was playing without third-leading scorer Otto Porter Jr., who was ruled out for the rest of the series with a leg injury, per Candace Buckner of the Washington Post.
This led to what was effectively a two-man offensive show between John Wall and Bradley Beal.
Beal scored 32 points and Wall added 23, while no one else on the team scored more than 12. The All-Star backcourt combined for 44 of the team's 79 field-goal attempts.
Lowry was the star of the day for Toronto, but there was a lot more balance throughout the roster. The bench scored 34 points and eight players scored at least seven points in the win.
Zach Lowe of ESPN described the difference down the stretch:
It was also the first time in 24 chances the Raptors won a road playoff game when losing at halftime, per ESPN Stats & Info.
The Wizards came out firing in the first half with Wall and Beal combining for 25 points:
This play helped the home team go up 10 points late in the second quarter before a Raptors run cut the halftime lead to 53-50.
The back-and-forth play continued in the second half with Washington grabbing a five-point lead after the third quarter, but it didn't last long with the Raptors regaining control early in the fourth.
Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports and John Schuhmann of NBA.com credited Toronto's deeper bench for taking over the lead:
Pascal Siakam was especially impressive, finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a game-high plus-18 on the court. He also had a few key plays late in the fourth quarter to keep the Raptors in front:
DeRozan didn't need to return to the floor until the final four minutes, by which point the Wizards had seemingly already conceded the loss.
While the home team had won every game this series, the Raptors were able to close things out on the road and will advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals against either the Cavs or the Pacers.
