Raptors flip the switch with huge bounce-back win over Wizards

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A response was required.

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Pretty much to a man the Raptors delivered.

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And it still required overtime.

Credit the Washington Wizards for making this one a game after it appeared the visitors had put this one to bed. And credit the Raptors for refusing to let go of the rope in a thrilling 116-109 OT win over the Wizards.

Name a Raptor who was criticized for his play on Thursday and they were better individually Saturday evening.

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But more than anything it was a difference in the overall compete level that Raptors head coach Nick Nurse lamented had gone missing by his group in Thursday’s game that came back in a big way.

The same court, the same personnel for both teams for the most part, but a much different result as the Raptors rebounded from that disappointing loss two nights earlier.

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This one was anything but easy. There were certainly a few nervous minutes to start.

Having seen Kyle Kuzma set the tone with a 10-0 run by himself to start Thursday’s game, a repeat appeared to be in the making.

This time around it was Kristaps Porzingis who started the game as a one-man offence for the Wizards, scoring seven before the Raps even got on the board.

The good news is it didn’t extend beyond that and, better still, once the Porzingis magic cooled off, the Raptors started to assert themselves.

It wasn’t all Raptors from that point on, but it was enough that the visitors got out of the District with a split in their two-game series following a disappointing loss.

With the win, Toronto is back to a game under .500 and a full game lead on the Wizards for ninth in the conference.

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Atlanta is a game ahead of Toronto in eighth and Miami another half game up in seventh, though those two teams were playing each other later Saturday night.

Fred VanVleet, who came under some fire for an off night shooting in Thursday’s loss, responded with a 25-point, 10-assist gem, including two huge three-pointers in the overtime.

Gary Trent Jr., himself limited to just four points in a rare poor shooting night Thursday, shrugged that one off and put up a game-high 26 in this one.

He was just the best of a very much improved bench from two nights previous.

Precious Achiuwa was back to being that tough-nosed defender and rebounder and led the Raptors with a plus-17. His impact was felt more on the defensive end, an area in which the Raptors failed to even match Washington’s intensity in the opener of this mini two-game series.

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Porzingis was the only member of Washington’s offence to really give the Raptors much trouble in this one.

He led the Wizards with 22, one more than Bradley Beal, who forced up 22 shots and only made seven.

Toronto’s bench, the unit that took the most flak following Thursday’s loss dominated the Washington reserves outscoring them 44-23.

The Raptors appeared to have this one locked down with an 11-point lead and everything going their way with about seven minutes remaining.

But the Wizards, a well-coached team under the steady hand of Wes Unseld Jr., had one more run in them and they made it count, forcing overtime on former Raptor Delon Wright’s three-pointer with 30 seconds remaining.

Washington closed the quarter on a 19-7 run.

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Both VanVleet and Beal had chances to give their respective teams a lead in those final 30 seconds, but VanVleet’s three missed the mark while Beal was pressured into a low-percentage shot by O.G. Anunoby and saw his buzzer-beating attempt miss as well.

In the overtime, it was those two three-pointers from VanVleet that put Toronto in control for good.

The Raptors will have a day to practice in Denver on Sunday to acclimatize themselves to the thin air a little and then a tall task Monday night as they try to take down the Western-Conference leading Denver Nuggets and the always-difficult Nikola Jokic, who appears to be on his way to a third consecutive MVP award.