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I'd say the next game can't come any sooner, but I'm not sure many Washington Wizards fans are looking forward to facing the Golden State Warriors tomorrow, not with how this team has looked the past couple games.
Typically, it's the Wizards that thrive on ball movement, finding open cutters or perimeter shooters, and knocking down three pointers. But they got spanked by a near mirror-image of themselves Friday night, when the Toronto Raptors shot 11-of-22 from three and notched 29 assists on 40 made field goals en route to a 101-88 butt whooping that ended up much closer than it had any right to be.
Kyle Lowry made all four of his three-point attempts, and Terrence Ross caught fire in the third quarter, nailing four wide-open threes in helping the Raptors outscore the Wizards, 36-16, in the period. Even Toronto's stretch 4s got in on the fun, with Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson combining to shoot 3-for-5 from deep.
Meanwhile, the Wizards struggled getting open threes and making them, particularly Bradley Beal and John Wall, who each missed three attempts. Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster notched a couple threes each to help the Washington finish 4-for-12 from long range.
KEY LINKS
Home team recaps: BF StoryStream | Washington Post | CSN Washington (recap, sidebar) | Truth About It | Wiz of Awes | District Sports Page | DC Sports Box | Wizards.com | Monumental Network
Road team recaps: Raptors HQ | Toronto Sun | Toronto Star | Raptors Rapture | Tip of the Tower
Postgame interviews: Randy Wittman | John Wall | Nene | Bradley Beal
KEY STATS
72.5 - Percentage of Toronto field goals that came off assists. The Raptors totaled 29 assists on 40 made field goals.
56 - Percentage of Washington field goals that came off assists. The Wizards totals 19 assists on 34 made field goals.
94 - Washington's free throw percentage against the Raptors. The Wizards went 16-of-17 at the line.
TWEETS OF THE NIGHT
It appears #wizards defensive strategy has been to give Terrence Ross, Amir Johnson & Patrick Patterson all the open Js they can handle.
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) January 4, 2014
Wizards ability to destroy any optimism that snuck into the minds of fans that should know better by this point really is uncanny
— David Malitz (@malitzd) January 4, 2014
Timeline summary: Wizards = Poop
— Jack Kogod (@Unsilent) January 4, 2014
I'd like to order a 'we're not there yet game' please & can I also grab a large 'destroy optimism'? Thanks. #Wizards
— danny rouhier (@funnydanny) January 4, 2014
Game Summary via Wittman expression. #Wizards pic.twitter.com/6L0zgjMUKi
— Danny (@recordsANDradio) January 4, 2014
Not basketball related. Just hilarious.
Animal Photobomb pic.twitter.com/sF7rvJ6C5A
— Animal Life (@fabulousanimals) January 4, 2014
VIDEO/GIF OF THE NIGHT
The game was awful, but this was pretty awesome. (H/T @tjackson85)
GAMETHREAD COMMENT OF THE NIGHT
This was clever.
GAMETHREAD ROLLCALL
| # | Commenter | # Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wall_Hopeful | 118 |
| 2 | qthaballa | 59 |
| 3 | NewCavsfan | 40 |
| 4 | DCrez | 37 |
| 5 | Baird15 | 36 |
| 6 | ExtraSpecialBitter | 27 |
| 7 | richkam14 | 24 |
| 8 | wiznation2-3-22 | 24 |
| 9 | souldrummer | 23 |
| 10 | HeyHeyDoctorJ | 18 |
| 11 | gregjohnson1229 | 16 |
| 12 | jarem | 16 |
| 13 | thewiz06 | 16 |
| 14 | 17squall | 15 |
| 15 | KurisuDevil | 14 |
| 16 | NRKgoSKINS | 12 |
| 17 | Banode | 12 |
| 18 | HijackedD | 11 |
| 19 | oakhillsteeze | 10 |
| 20 | Le Bullet | 10 |
| 21 | LRJ | 9 |
| 22 | freshcat | 7 |
| 23 | mr. 91 | 6 |
| 24 | hotplate | 6 |
| 25 | John Wall Stan | 5 |
| 26 | JimmyWall | 5 |
| 27 | LeHalfrican | 4 |
| 28 | FTT | 3 |
| 29 | LordAthrin | 3 |
| 30 | BCinVA | 2 |
| 31 | wad0cash | 2 |
| 32 | arian1123 | 2 |
| 33 | swaggyP | 1 |
| 34 | Bryan1976 | 1 |
| 35 | Endless Paradise | 1 |
| 36 | t0Shihiro | 1 |
| 37 | DCPerspective | 1 |
| 38 | ant123 | 1 |
| 39 | KINGWIZ86 | 1 |
| 40 | Tbonebullets | 1 |
| 41 | MeToo | 1 |
| 42 | Dan the Bullets Fan | 1 |
| 43 | mbatch94 | 1 |
| 44 | Rook6980 | 1 |
| 45 | tomdesabla | 1 |
| 46 | PasqualeGMP | 1 |
| 47 | Clutchcity202 | 1 |
| 48 | jsuh0 | 1 |
| 49 | elliotlevy2 | 1 |
