Field Level Media
Oct 20, 2018
Kyle Lowry had 28 points and 12 assists and the visiting Toronto Raptors held off a late Washington rally to beat the Wizards 117-113 on Saturday night.
Jonas Valanciunas and Serge Ibaka scored 16 points apiece for Toronto, which improved to 3-0.
Bradley Beal led winless Washington with 32 points and John Wall added 25. Beal was 6 of 11 from 3-point range and passed Gilbert Arenas (868) for the franchise lead in 3-pointers and now has 870.
The Raptors, playing the second of back-to-back games, gave forward Kawhi Leonard the night off. Washington was without center Dwight Howard (lower back), who missed his second game.
Toronto outscored Washington 20-9 over the final 5:30 of the third quarter and led 90-82 to open the fourth.
The Raptors increased their lead to 13 points with 6:57 left to play but Beal hit consecutive 3-pointers to pull Washington within 106-101.
Lowry, who scored 11 straight Raptors points in the quarter, kept making shots to preserve Toronto's lead but a 3-point play by Wall got the Wizards within 113-111 with 58 seconds left.
After the Raptors won a jump ball with 36 seconds left, Lowry's shot was blocked but the ball went out of bounds to Toronto. Off a timeout, Fred VanVleet grabbed a loose ball and hit an off-balance jumper with 14.6 seconds to go to push the lead to four.
Wall hit two free throws with nine seconds left, but VanVleet -- who finished with 13 points off the bench -- hit two free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks received a pair of technical fouls and was ejected after a non-call involving Wall in the fourth quarter.
The Wizards scored 34 fast-break points to four for Toronto.
The Raptors outrebounded Washington 52-37.
Ian Mahinmi, starting in place of Howard, was again plagued by foul trouble and scored two points.
Through two games, Leonard is averaging 27.5 points and 11.5 rebounds.
--Field Level Media