Wall has 26 points, 17 assists as Wizards rout Raptors
Washington Wizards forward Paul Pierce (34) celebrates with Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) in the final seconds during the second half in Game 2 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs, Tuesday, April 21, 2015, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
TORONTO — John Wall had 26 points and 17 assists, Bradley Beal scored 28 points and the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 117-106 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Marcin Gortat scored 16 points, Otto Porter had 15 and Paul Pierce added 10 for the Wizards, who host Game 3 on Friday night.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Sixth Man Award winner Lou Williams scored 20 points for the Raptors, who have lost four straight playoff games over the past two seasons.
Washington lost 15 of its final 19 regular season road games, but has won seven of eight away from home in the playoffs over the past two years. The Wizards won all three road games while beating Chicago in last year’s first round.
DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, Patrick Patterson had 15 and Amir Johnson added 10 for Toronto, which has won just one playoff series in six previous postseason appearances.
All-Star guard Kyle Lowry, who fouled out of Game 1 with seven points after missing eight of 10 shots, struggled again. Lowry limped to the locker room midway through the fourth quarter and did not return. He finished with six points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Wizards connected on 27 of 39 field goal attempts in the second and third quarters.
Washington, which out rebounded Toronto 61-48 in Game 1, was dominant on the glass again. The Wizards finished with 45 rebounds while the Raptors had 28. Toronto didn’t get a single offensive rebound in the first half.
Patterson made two 3-pointers in a 10-0 run as the Raptors cut it to 102-89 with 6:35 left. After a Wizards timeout, Beal stopped the run with a jumper.
A 3 by Greivis Vasquez made it 106-96 at 3:23, but the Raptors couldn’t get any closer.
Toronto took a 12-2 lead and held a 31-26 edge after one quarter. DeRozan scored nine points in the first and Valanciunas had eight.
Just as they did in Saturday’s Game 1 win, the Wizards used a second-quarter surge to take the lead. Beal scored 16 points in the second, including a 3 that started a 13-0 run to put the Wizards up 60-49 at halftime. The Raptors struggled after Lowry picked up his second and third fouls in an 11-second span and spent the final 9:18 of the half on the bench.
The Raptors opened the third with a 12-3 spurt, cutting the deficit to 63-61, but Washington responded with 10 straight points to restore its double-digit lead. Wall scored 10 points in the third as the Wizards took a 97-75 lead into the fourth, leading to boos from the Air Canada Centre crowd.
