Toronto @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 1, 2018 ) Toronto 119, Washington 122

The Toronto Raptors are clinging to the top spot in the Eastern Conference and are winners of 11 of their last 13 games. One of the two losses in that span came at the Washington Wizards, who host the Raptors again on Friday.

Toronto began its two-game road trip by trouncing the Orlando Magic 117-104 on Wednesday and won its two games this week by a total of 42 points. The Raptors are sitting a half-game clear of the Boston Celtics in the East and will play three consecutive sub-.500 teams after finishing up with the Wizards. The Wizards are occupying the No. 4 spot in the East, eight games behind Toronto, but beat the Raptors 122-119 on Feb. 1 when Bradley Beal exploded for 25 of his 27 points in the second half. Beal was not quite as sharp on Wednesday, when he slumped to eight points on 3-of-15 shooting in a 109-101 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, Sportsnet One (Toronto), NBCS Washington

ABOUT THE RAPTORS (43-17): Toronto's surge has been led by its bench, and power forward Pascal Siakam finished off a strong February by scoring 14 points on Wednesday. “I told (Pascal) after the game Wednesday night he won that game just with his energy and speed,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey told reporters. “It wasn’t anything skill-wise. It wasn’t 3-point shooting or jump shots. It was his running that really set the tone for us and Orlando came to a point where their give-a-crap level just dropped because he was running every time." Siakam is 26-of-35 from the floor over the last four games and shot 62.2 percent in February.

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (36-26): Center Marcin Gortat joined Beal with an off night on Wednesday, and coach Scott Brook blamed the entire starting unit. "Our starters just couldn't get a nice rhythm," Brooks told reporters. "Brad usually doesn't have a game like he had tonight. We will bounce back. I am confident in our guys. We didn't give in, we just had a tough night; third quarter really. We talked about it before the game, we talked about it at halftime and we knew how they would play in that the third quarter. We had some careless turnovers and some bad defensive lapses.” The Wizards won a pair of games over East playoff contenders before Wednesday's setback, toppling the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Wizards SF Otto Porter Jr. scored 29 points on Wednesday and is 10-of-18 from 3-point range over the last three games.

2. Raptors PG Kyle Lowry is 10-of-16 from 3-point range over the last two contests.

3. Toronto won its two previous trips to Washington before falling in the Feb. 1 meeting.

PREDICTION: Raptors 119, Wizards 103