Raptors lose lead, series now best-of-three
WASHINGTON — The Toronto Raptors saw their playoff series lead disappear on Sunday.
Bradley Beal scored 31 points, while John Wall had 27, and the Washington Wizards beat Toronto, 106-98, to tie their opening-round National Basketball Association Eastern Conference series at two games apiece.
DeMar DeRozan had
35 points to top Toronto, but it wasn’t be enough. Kyle Lowry had 19 points and seven assists, Jonas Valanciunas had 11 points, Jakob Poeltl finished with 10 and Serge Ibaka grabbed 10 rebounds.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Toronto, where the Raptors lost just seven games in the regular season, then the series returns to Washington for Game 6 on Friday. The Raptors raced out to an early 12-point lead, and held on until midway through the third quarter of what turned into a nail-biter. A Mike Scott basket at the third-quarter buzzer sent the game into the fourth all tied up at 80-80.
Toronto opened the fourth with an 8-0 run capped by a steal and basket by Delon Wright. But the Wizards responded, and when Marcin Gortat threw down a dunk — and then beat his chest and roared — it tied the game with 5:40 to play. With the noisy crowd on its feet, Wall calmly drained a jumper that gave the Wizards a six-point lead with a minute to play. Kelly Oubre iced the win with a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left, while a stock photo of a sad-looking Drake flashed on the jumbotron.