Toronto (31-33 SU, 31-33 ATS) hopes to get revenge on a Washington team (30-32 SU, 30-29-3 ATS) that defeated them on Thursday night. These teams match up again on Saturday afternoon from Capital One Arena on Saturday at 5pmET.
In their first meeting of the season, the Wizards were victorious 119-108 as a 2.0-point underdog. The Raptors are currently in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of Washington.
You watch Toronto and you wonder why they are under .500. Why didn't they make more moves other than obtaining Jakob Poeltl before the trade deadline? In Thursday's loss at Washington, Fred VanVleet had a horrific game, making just 2-of-11 from three-point range. Pascal Siakam struggled as well, with 13 points on 1-of-5 from 3-point range (6-of-16 FG), but did have 11 boards and six assists. Poeltl did play well, with 23 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, while O.G. Anunoby led the way with 26 points, but had just two rebounds. Toronto turned the ball over 14 times and shot just 9-of-33 (27%) from beyond the arc.
DIME ?? DUNK pic.twitter.com/cemIg40T54
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) March 3, 2023
Toronto has too much talent to be under .500 at this point of the season, but it starts with the backcourt. VanVleet is averaging 19.3 points, but is shooting just 38.8% from the field and 33.6% from long range with 6.7 assists. Compare that to last season when he averaged 20.3 points and shot 37.7% from long range. Siakam leads the team with 25 points per game, adding 7.8 rebounds and 6.0 assists on 47.5% shooting (34.2% 3pt). Washington played some zone on Thursday night and why not? The Raptors are shooting just 33.4% (27th) from long range and 46.3% (28th overall). Defensively, despite having lengthy defenders like Siakam and Anunoby, they are allowing teams to shoot 49% from the field (27th) and 37.5% (27th) from long range.
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