Although the Washington Wizards managed to limit the Toronto Raptors' star guard duo of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to just 28 combined points, Bradley Beal and the Wizards had few answers for Toronto's other role players in a 114-106 loss in Game 1 on Saturday.
After the game, Beal opened up to Candace Buckner and Ava Wallace of The Washington Post about what went wrong for the Wizards in a road playoff contest that was very much winnable.
“There were a lot of sloppy plays, transition threes, offensive rebounds, kick-out threes,” Beal said, who had 19 points and four assists. “CJ [Miles] and [Delon] Wright — they hit some big shots down the stretch, a lot of threes. DeMar even made some threes in the fourth. They were 16 for 30 from three, so that hurts you when you’re competing.”
For the Raptors, power forward Serge Ibaka led the way with 23 points and 12 rebounds, while point guard Delon Wright came off the bench to score 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter alone.
Despite Wall's double-double of 23 points and 15 assists on Saturday, the Raptors' bench was the determining factor that propelled Toronto to victory down the stretch of the game.
“Their bench was great,” Wall said. “They played well, made some big shots for them, and that’s what they are going to do every game. We got to make adjustments.”
The Wizards will look to bounce back and even the series with the Raptors on Tuesday night when the two teams tip off Game 2 at Air Canada Centre.
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