Scottie Barnes and the Toronto Raptors are looking for their fifth win in a row on Wednesday as they travel to the nation’s capital for a date with the struggling Washington Wizards.
Barnes has been the driving force behind Toronto’s recent rise, averaging a team-high 21.7 points during its current four-game win streak. The third-year forward has scored more than 20 points in each of the Raptors’ last three games, leading the team with 25 and 24 points respectively in consecutive wins at Atlanta before matching Jakob Poeltl’s team-high 21 points in Monday’s 113-104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
“I would say it is satisfying, getting wins,” Barnes said. “But I feel like most importantly, just being connected as a team and working through things, I feel like we’re just continuing to get better. Every player, when we’re out there in the game, we know we’re focusing on that next possession or that possession that’s going on.”
Despite Barnes’ recent tear, shooting guard RJ Barrett still leads the Raptors in scoring this season with 22 points per game in 38 outings this season. Barrett also averages 6.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists, though Barnes leads the team with 6.6 assists per game.
Seven different Raptors are averaging double figures in scoring on the season and six of those players have played in 30-plus games for Toronto this season. The problem is, the Raptors are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA with a 115.9 defensive rating that puts them at 25th in the league.
While it’s been a tough year for the 14-win Raptors overall, they’ll get an opportunity to face off with one of the few teams in the NBA who have had it worse than them.
The Wizards are in the midst of a serious rebuild. While there is legitimate defensive potential for them to build off, it’s clear they are still a few years and several more pieces away from being a winning team.
The Wizards enter Wednesday’s game on a 14-game losing streak, which isn’t even the worst losing streak of this season. Washington suffered through a league-high 16-game losing streak in November, marking the second straight season with a 16-game skid.
The Wizards have won just six times this season, most recently on New Year’s Day. To make matters worse, the Wizards have lost five games in a row by double figures and nine of the last 10.
The Wizards’ recent struggles were perhaps best exemplified in the first quarter of Monday’s 130-108 loss to Dallas, where the Mavericks outscored them 42-16 in the first quarter.
“First quarter, that was the whole game,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “They blitzed us, give them the credit, but we didn’t have the necessary force. They beat us with a lot of loose balls, those turned into (3-pointers).
“It’s always a little bit of a combination of some things that you do. We’ll take that one ourselves, just not the force necessary to make it hard on them.”
Jordan Poole has been the catalyst for Washington’s offense, averaging 21.2 points and 5.0 assists per game. Kyle Kuzma has provided 14.3 points per game in 28 appearances this season, while Malcolm Brogdon averages 13.8 points per game.
