NBA’s top team runs streak to four; Anunoby, Miles back
RAPTORS125, WIZARDS107
It’s like the Toronto Raptors are the cat and the other guys are the mice.
They toy with them, they let them escape and they trap them by the tail.
They toy with them, they let them escape and they bat them around before catching them again.
And finally, they get tired of playing and deliver the final blow.
The scenario that often plays out with the Raptors did again Friday night in a 125-107 win over the Washington Wizards at Scotiabank Arena.
The Raptors would get up big, let the Wizards back in the game, reassert control, let the Wizards back in the game again and, finally, in the last six or seven minutes, put them away.
Kawhi Leonard had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead Toronto, while OG Anunoby returned from a three-game absence to score 17 as the Raptors won their fourth straight and ran their NBA-best record to 16-4. Kyle Lowry finished with 15 points and nine assists as six Raptors scored in double figures.
On a roll: Serge Ibaka has scored 10 or more points in 18 straight games, the secondlongest double-digit streak of his career. He went 21 straight games bridging the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. Gang’s back together: The returns of Anunoby and C.J. Miles gave the Raptors as close to their full roster as they’ve had in more than a week. Norm Powell is the only player remaining on the shelf.
Feast or famine: The Raptors missed the first five threepointers they took in the first quarter, which was unsustainably bad shooting. They made seven of the next eight threepointers they took in the first quarter, which was unsustainably good shooting. Somewhere, coach Nick Nurse knows, the middle lies: “We’re generating really good shots and we’re not necessarily shooting very well,” he said Friday morning. “I’m hoping that some of these guys’ averages climb back to their norm a little bit. Some of them are really low, which I think’s encouraging because I think the shots are there and they’re good. It would be a little more worrying if the shots were bad and we’re strug- gling to get them.” Toronto ended up making a season-high 17 three-pointers.
This and that: Washington’s Dwight Howard missed the game with “aggravated gluteal soreness” — which must be worse than “normal gluteal soreness” we suppose … Toronto’s 70-point first half was the club’s second-best scoring half of the season. They had 71 in the first half in Los Angeles last month … Powell took part in a thorough and robust on-court workout before the game as he rehabs a shoulder injury … Wizards guards John Wall and Brad Beal combined for 31 points on 12-for-29 shooting from the field.
Up next: The Dwyane Wade appreciation and farewell tour hits Toronto on Sunday, when the Miami Heat are at Scotiabank Arena for a 6 p.m. start.