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Bosh, Raptors set to face Butler, Wizards

Jan 29, 2008 - 2:51 PM Toronto (24-19) at Washington (23-19) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - With all the focus on the Boston Celtics at the top of the Eastern Conference, the two teams that might give them the most trouble come playoff time are the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors.

The Wizards host the Raptors on Tuesday in a battle of Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls.

Both Washington and Toronto have had their ups and downs this season, but neither team has had a problem playing up to its competition.

The Wizards claimed back-to-back wins against the 34-8 Celtics on November 12 and 14, and then beat the Western Conference-power Dallas Mavericks a week later despite playing without leading scorer and All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas for the past 2 1/2 months.

Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison are averaging 21.9 and 21.3 points per game, respectively, and have had no trouble picking up the offensive slack. In addition, Washington has slowed the pace and clamped down on defense, allowing only 94 points per contest since December 1.

The Raptors claimed a win over Boston last Wednesday and have won seven of their last nine games, including a dominating 106-75 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. Chris Bosh continued his push for an All-Star reserve spot with 32 points in the contest.

Point guard Jose Calderon has been making his own All-Star push recently, ranking fifth in the NBA at 8.6 assists per contest while turning the ball over at just a 1.6 clip.

The third-year Spaniard had 11 assists on December 1, but it was not enough to overcome Butler's 29 points and Jamison's 14 rebounds as Washington took the first meeting of the season between the teams, 101-97.