Facing the prospect of blowing a 16-point lead, while in the midst of a near-three-minute scoreless drought, the Toronto Raptors found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat … again.
With just 0:08 seconds left on the game clock, head coach Darko Rajakovic flexed his finger muscles and drew up yet another game-winning out-of-bounds play — this time scheming a lob play at the rim that Jared Rhoden and Olivier Sarr (with the help of a Chucky Hepburn screen) executed to perfection as Toronto walked away with a 113-112 win over the Washington Wizards.
Immanuel Quickley led the Raptors’ effort on Sunday with a team-high 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc to go with three rebounds and three assists. Right behind him was RJ Barrett with 15 points, while Scottie Barnes added a 10-point, 12-rebound performance, albeit on 3-of-11 shooting from the field. The Raptors’ star forward finished a plus-22 despite his less-than-stellar offensive efficiency, but still left something to be desired with his process throughout the night.
Meanwhile, Hepburn had another solid outing off the bench with 12 points on 4-of-6 from the floor, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, who started in place of Jakob Poeltl, chipped in with eight points, nine rebounds and two steals.
It wasn’t a pretty win by any means, but that doesn’t appear to be a point of concern for this team that’s built an M.O. on being scrappy. Despite being outperformed from the field and distance, thanks to 33.6 and 28.6 per cent shooting efforts, the Raptors’ opportunistic defence continued to do the heavy lifting. Washington shot an equally paltry 39.3 and 29.0 per cent from both areas while struggling to keep a handle on the ball to the tune of 19 turnovers versus Toronto’s 10.
An effort that appeared to have all but secured the Raptors a third consecutive (pre-season) win as they flipped what was a 53-52 halftime deficit into a 16-point lead with just under six minutes in the game — largely thanks to Ja’Kobe Walter, who started in place of Brandon Ingram and scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter.
That was before the taps turned off on Toronto’s offence, however, conceding an 18-1 run to Washington while failing to convert another field goal attempt until Sarr’s buzzer-beater. Subsequently, the Wizards, led by Marvin Bagley’s eight points in the fourth, climbed all the way back and retook the lead on a pair of free throws from Canada’s Will Riley, who made his pre-season debut on Sunday.
The 19-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., was drafted 21st overall by Washington in June and put up four points, two rebounds and two assists in his first real NBA minutes. Meanwhile, Swiss-Canadian sophomore Kyshawn George also made his pro debut for the Wizards and racked up 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and four blocks.
Solid efforts by the youngsters that were ultimately usurped by Olivier Sarr, who not only dropped in the game-winner, but got to do it against his younger brother Alex in their first organized game as opponents.
The elder Sarr’s basket as time expired marked the second game in a row the Raptors had won in such dramatic fashion. Toronto escaped with a 107-105 win against the Boston Celtics, similarly, thanks to a well-executed ATO-SLOB play drawn up by Rajakovic and executed by his players — Jonathan Mogbo dropping in a layup to win it.
Key stat
The Raptors turned 19 Wizards turnovers into 26 points, continuing a trend of turning defence into offence for a good chunk of their scoring production most nights.
Toronto has now forced 98 turnovers for 111 points through the exhibition schedule while averaging the third-fewest giveaways themselves during that span.
For added context, the Raptors are averaging 24.5 turnovers forced per game and 27.8 points scored off turnovers through four pre-season games, both well above their 2024-25 marks that ranked seventh (15.1) and 10th (18.5) in the NBA.
Up next
The Raptors return to action on Wednesday when they visit the Celtics for a rematch in their second-last pre-season game.
