EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND
Late collapse proves costly
Wizards on brink of elimination after falling apart in fourth quarter
The crowd didn't appreciate how their party was interrupted with a hard foul by Markieff Morris and a meaningless late bucket by Kelly Oubre Jr.
If only Washington could have done more in the final nine minutes to silence the roars. Maybe one shot or one fewer turnover might have done it. Instead, a fourth-quarter breakdown led to Washington’s collapse in the pivotal Game 5.
The top-seeded Toronto Raptors took control of this best-of-seven series with a 108-98 win for a 3-2 lead. The series shifts back to Capital One Arena on Friday and the No. 8 seed Wizards stand one loss away from being eliminated.
When asked to gauge his team’s chances of returning to Toronto for Game 7 on April 29 — which of course can only happen if the Wizards win on Friday — John Wall answered with assurance.
“We love our chances,” Wall said. “We’re very confident… It’s the best out of three and for somebody to win the series, they got to win on the road.”
However, the Wizards had a chance to do just that in Game 5 but squandered their best showing — albeit through a poor shooting night – in enemy territory.
Washington led by five points within the final nine minutes to match their largest lead of the night. The team then responded by splitting their next six possessions evenly between missed shots and turnovers. As the Raptors took command with a 24-6 run, the Wizards scored only four field goals within the final 8:52, with a pair coming from Bradley Beal and Oubre with less than 17 seconds to play.
“We just missed some shots. We feel like we got a lot of good ones,” Beal said about the Wizards’ 41.1 percent shooting and 5-for-26 from 3-point range.
“For the most we feel like we didn’t shoot [well] or play a great game and still had an opportunity to win,” Beal continued. “They just made some bigger shots and big momentum plays down the stretch that really hurt us in the fourth.”
Beal scored 20 points but missed five of six shots in the final quarter. Also, Wall flirted with a triple-double with 26 points, nine assists and nine rebounds but turned the ball over seven times. During the Wizards’ final bow, Wall committed a pair of turnovers; one while trying to cram his way through screen and the other possession ripped away by Delon Wright.
Once again Wright, the backup wing, showed up in front of the home crowd and produced 18 points to complement DeMar DeRozan’s game-high 32 and Kyle Lowry’s 17-point and 10-assist night.
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