Raptors maul struggling Wizards

The Toronto Raptors bounced back from a pair of blowout losses with a comfortable 106-89 win over the struggling Washington Wizards at the Air Canada Center on Friday. The Wizards (4-19) provided little challenge and fell for the third consecutive game. The Raptors (8-16), led by reserves Amir Johnson and Leandro Barbosa, built a 55-45 lead at halftime. “Amir was a monster,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey told reporters. “I thought he did a great job of rolling to the basket, cleaning up the offensive boards. Amir was very, very active.” The Raptors are coming off successive hammerings, falling 100-77 to Atlanta on Tuesday and 100-64 in Boston the following night. “The overall focus was good. They came out like a team that was embarrassed by what had happened against Atlanta and Boston,” said Casey. Johnson scored 12 points and Barbosa added 11 in the first half as the home side dominated the interior, holding a large advantage in rebounds and points in the paint. Washington responded with an 8-0 run early in the third quarter to pull within one point at 60-59, but following a timeout by Toronto, the Raptors regained control of the momentum again sparked by the reserves and pulled away from the fading Wizards. “They outplayed us in every phase of the game. Disappointing, coming in here after we’ve been playing, I think, at a pretty good, high level. But tonight wasn’t it,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “We didn’t have that same effort that we’ve had and it showed.” Barbosa led all Raptors with 19 points and Johnson finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. Washington guards Nick Young and John Wall led the Wizards with 21 and 15 points respectively.