Wizards almost made Raps’ win vanish
If there’s a recurring theme with the Toronto Raptors, it’s a penchant for turning potentially easy wins into tough ones.
The victory in Washington, a double-overtime thriller, was the latest example.
The good news is the Raptors found a way to win, but up by 23 early should never turn into double overtime and the players know this all too well.
“It’s just focus,” point guard Kyle Lowry said. “We shouldn’t lose focus. We have to stay focused on every possession. We lost a little focus and our offence starts to dictate our defence. We can’t do that. We have to let our defence dictate our offence.”
Danny Green saw it, too, but the veteran shooting guard still counted this one as a positive experience despite the anxiety experienced when it felt like the Wizards’ Bradley Beal was just going to win the game all by himself.
Green was almost sure of it after Beal sent the game into the first overtime.
“I kind of laughed when Beal got that three,” Green said. “The ball rolled right to him damn near the top of the key for a wide-open three. It was almost storybook. We get the stop, it ricochets off four people and he ends up with the ball. Right at the wing that he just hit one from.”
Beal wasn’t done there, but that did pretty much put a cap on his banner afternoon that included 14 points in the final 5:27 of regulation.
Green, though, was more interested in the Raptors’ response.
“We just have to be more mature,” Green said. “Learn how to keep leads. Keep our foot on the gas. Keep teams at bay. Obviously they got hot. They made shots. That’s what they do, but we have to put ourselves in a better position and not let them do that.
“It was an experience that we kind of realize we are getting there, but we’re not fully there yet,” he said. “Obviously some tough matches coming up, so we still have some work to do.”
Lowry gave props to both Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam for helping the Raptors pull this one out. He also sacrificed his body in a big way on the final play of the game, throwing himself in the way of Beal as he attempted to haul in a desperate, last-second heave in the hopes of getting off a tying shot.
“We had to make sure we won that game,” Lowry said.
TOUGHING IT OUT
Green has been hit plenty of times in a basketball game, but Sunday’s bell-ringer was rather unique. A missed Otto Porter three was tipped back toward a lunging Green, who secured the ball in a prone position just as Tomas Satoransky arrived and took him out like a linebacker blitzing the quarterback.
“I knew the first free throw was going to be a little tough. My neck was a little out of place,” Green said after Satoransky got him with a hard shot to his head. “He said sorry. He was making sure I was OK. I’m not made of glass, but at the same time the equilibrium was a little off for a while. Having said that, it was a good foul.”
Green missed the first free throw, but made the second to give Toronto a two-point lead with 2.8 seconds left. Lowry took care of the rest, tipping the Hail Mary out of bounds.