TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors crushed the Washington Wizards
122-83 in the NBA on Wednesday, equaling the franchise record for their biggest
winning margin and gaining revenge for an overtime loss to the same opponent a
day earlier.
The 39-point margin matched Toronto’s previous biggest win –
a 112-73 victory over Atlanta on April 12, 2002.
A day after losing 108-104 in overtime to the Wizards in
Washington, the Raptors rebounded with a dominating performance, shooting 57
percent and making 13-of-18 three-point shots.
Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 19 points while Chris
Bosh added 16 despite sitting out the fourth quarter. The Raptors held a
31-point lead after three quarters.
"After a bad game yesterday, we came back and played really
good today," Bargnani said.
"We can be a very good basketball team when we rebound the
ball and share the ball like we did tonight."
Bosh said the huge win showed how good the Raptors could be.
"I think we learned from this victory that we have the
potential to be a really good team in this league," Bosh said.
"We can rebound, we can play good defense and we can score
as well as the better teams in this league."
Anthony Parker chipped in with 15 points and Jose Calderon
added 11 and 11 assists despite also not playing in the final 12 minutes.
Toronto (25-20) won a season-high sixth consecutive game at
home and for the eighth time in the last 11 games overall.
DeShawn Stevenson led the Wizards (24-20) with 16 points,
but Washington offered little resistance without the injured Caron Butler for
the second game in a row.
"They played very well and we didn’t play well at all,"
Washington coach Eddie Jordan said.
"We didn’t play well right from the beginning and just
couldn’t get it going."
The Miami Heat lost for the 17th time in 18 games, going
down 107-91 to the Orlando Magic. Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and Udonis
Haslem all sat out with injuries for Miami (9-35).
Al Jefferson had 26 points and 20 rebounds as the Minnesota
Timberwolves scored an 83-67 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The New Orleans Hornets nine-game winning streak was snapped as Stephen
Jackson scored 26 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 116-103
victory.
