Wizards at Raptors
The Toronto Raptors spent the regular season making franchise history and started the postseason the same way while brushing aside memories of poor Game 1 performances and shoving aside the Washington Wizards. The pressure of Game 1 now off, the top-seeded Raptors will try to push the lead to 2-0 when they host the Wizards on Tuesday in Game 2 of the first-round Eastern Conference series.
Toronto dropped 10 straight Game 1s before fighting for a 114-106 victory on Saturday and credited a change in philosophy from previous years that includes more ball movement to take the pressure off All-Star guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. "You don't force the issue," Raptors coach Dwane Casey told reporters after the win. "You have to give it up and make a play. That's what Kyle and DeMar have been doing all year -- different than last year. If this were last year, they would be feeling the pressure of having to score and put all of the burden of their backs. I didn't feel that tonight." Toronto shot 52.3 percent from the floor in the win, and the Wizards are aware of the need to turn things up on the defensive end. "It’s definitely a pick your poison but we have to do it better," Washington coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "We have to be able to close out on point, close out on the catch, know who has the ball and which way to close out on them."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, NBCS Washington plus, TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE WIZARDS: Washington All-Star point guard John Wall is still working his way back into shape following knee surgery and went 6-of-20 from the floor in Game 1 but still finished with 23 points and 15 assists. Fellow All-Star guard Bradley Beal scored 19 points and knows it's a long series. "We take it a game at time," Beal told reporters. "We had opportunities -- several opportunities -- to win tonight and close it out, but we didn’t. You know, you brush it off and move forward. We got another one on Tuesday."
ABOUT THE RAPTORS: Lowry and DeRozan combined for 15 assists in Game 1 as six Toronto players scored in double figures and eight attempted at least five field goals. "We've got the utmost confidence in our teammates," DeRozan told reporters. "The way we've been playing all year, the style of play we've been playing is having trust in our teammates to make the next play. You see it." The biggest surprise among the supporting cast in Game 1 was reserve point guard Delon Wright, who scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting - 10 points above his regular-season average.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Raptors PG Fred VanVleet (shoulder) missed Game 1 and is day-to-day.
2. Washington PFs Markieff Morris and Mike Scott combined to score 36 points on 16-of-25 shooting on Saturday.
3. Toronto SF CJ Miles went 4-of-7 from 3-point range to lead the team's 16-of-30 effort from beyond the arc.