Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) drives the ball past Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas (17) during thefirst half in Game 2 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs, Tuesday, April 21, 2015, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
The Washington Wizards head back to D.C. with a 2-0 series lead after shocking the No. 4 seed Toronto Raptors on April 21 with a 117-106 win in Game Two of an NBA Eastern Conference first round series, in Toronto. The win gives the Wizards the opportunity to close the best-of-seven series at home, with Game Three and Game Four played at the Verizon Center.
Wizards’ guards John Wall and Brad Beal struggled with shooting in Game One last Saturday. But they made up for it in Game Two with 54 total points scored between the two. The young star guards led Washington to an 11-point lead by halftime and maintained a double-digit cushion throughout most of the second half, pushing the lead up to 20 points at one point.
Toronto cut the lead to just two points at one point in the third quarter, but it wasn’t long before Washington ballooned it back up to double digits.
Beal led all scorers with 28 points along with five rebounds. Wall had 26 points with 17 assists, a franchise record for the most assists in a playoff game. Center Marcin Gortat had 16 points and eight rebounds, and forward Otto Porter had 15 points and nine rebounds.
DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points with seven assists for Toronto; Jonas Valanciunas had 15 and 10.
Next: Game Three is set for April 24 at the Verizon Center. Tip-off is 8 p.m.