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Raptors bounce back with win over Wizards

Feb 4, 2012 - 3:41 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Leandro Barbosa netted 19 points to lead a balanced offensive attack as the Toronto Raptors handled the Washington Wizards, 106-89, at Air Canada Centre.

Amir Johnson had a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Linas Kleiza had 15 points and James Johnson donated 13 for the Raptors, who bounced back nicely after an ugly 100-64 loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. DeMar DeRozan added 11 points and seven rebounds and Jose Calderon chipped in with 17 assists.

"It feels good, it was a breakout game for me," Amir Johnson said. "I talked to coach, he told me just to be patient and just play."

Nick Young led the Wizards with 21 points and John Wall finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Trevor Booker added 13 points and seven boards for Washington, which has dropped three straight.

After a tightly-played first quarter, in which each team led by as many as four, it was tied at 22.

Both teams struggled from the field. Washington shot just 7-of-23 (30,4 percent) in the quarter, while Toronto shot 40 percent, but was bailed out by eight offensive rebounds.

With the game tied at 24 early in the second quarter, Toronto used an 8-2 flurry to push its lead to 32-26 with just under nine minutes to play before halftime.

Washington fought back though and a driving lay-in by Shelvin Mack following a steal pulled the Wizards within 32-31.

The Raptors then went on a 14-4 run to extend their lead to 46-35 -- their largest advantage of the half -- with four minutes to go before the break.

A three-pointer by Jordan Crawford with 30 seconds left pulled the Wizards within six, but Toronto led 55-45 at the halfway point.

After James Johnson went 1-of-2 from the line early in the third frame, the Wizards ripped off a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to one with 7:12 to play in the quarter, but Toronto kept the Wizards at bay, outscoring them 20-10 over the final six-plus minutes of the quarter to lead 80-69 heading into the fourth.

The game was never in doubt in the fourth quarter, as the Raptors led by double-digits for the duration of the quarter en route to an easy win.

"There's not much to say about this one, you have to tip your hats to Toronto. They outplayed us in every phase of the game," Wizards interim head coach Randy Wittman said. "We fell back into some of our bad habits, we have to correct that."

Game Notes

The Raptors evened the season series between the teams after dropping a 93-78 decision to Washington on January 10...Raptors' center Andrea Bargnani missed his 11th game of the season with a calf injury. Toronto is 2-9 without him...The Raptors scored a season-high 68 points in the paint...Toronto improved to 3-0 when scoring 100-or-more points this season...Toronto shot 45 percent from the floor while holding the Wizards to just 37.9 percent.