Washington Wizards heading back home with all the confidence on their side
After winning the first two games of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Toronto Raptors on the road, the Washington Wizards will be heading back home with a 2-0 series lead. They were victorious in Game 1 after the Raptors came back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime. They were able to outscore Toronto 11-4 in OT, wining the game by a final score of 93-86.
Game 2, however, was a different story. The Raptors started out strong, going up by as much as ten in the early stages of this game. The Wizards were able to bounce back in the second quarter and outscore the Raptors by 16, taking a 60-49 lead into halftime. The second half was all Washington.
John Wall took over this game, as he recorded ten assists at halftime and 17 total in the game, while also scoring 26 points, hitting two three-point shots, and shooting 8-for-16 from the field. Wall did not perform particularly well in Game 1 of the series when he shot 5-for-18 from the field and scored just ten points.
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Starting shooting guard Bradley Beal, who also struggled mightily in the first game of the series, came back with a very strong performance on Tuesday night. He hit 12-of-21 from the field and scored a game-high 28 points. The more that this guy realizes that he has much more of a game than just shooting jump shots all day, the better he will be.
Washington will head home tomorrow night, and play the first game in the Verizon Center here in the 2015 NBA postseason. The crowd will be loud, but going down 3-0 is not an option for Toronto. Needless to say, this is a must-win for the Raptors. And on the part of Washington, don’t expect Toronto to perform as poorly as they have on the offensive side in the first two games, in Game 3.
Starting point guard Kyle Lowry has been shut down by his counterpart John Wall. The 8th-year man out of Villanova has shot just 5-for-20 from the field, while recording only 13 points in games one and two combined. Lowry will have that one game where he breaks out of his drought and puts up big numbers, and don’t expect these type of performances to continue from him.
Even with all that being said, a 2-0 series lead certainly doesn’t hurt, especially when both of those wins came on the road. Get ready everyone; the Wizards are heading back to D.C.!
Next: The Wizards must get more offensive production in Game 2