WASHINGTON — The Wizards got blitzed from the opening tip in their 112-102 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
Washington’s seven first-quarter turnovers were, in part, a result of Toronto’s relentless ball pressure. The Wizards were also unprepared for that level of physicality, which created an early hole they never climbed out of.
“We should’ve come into the game a little bit more physical, kind of matched the energy from the jump,” Justin Champagnie said. “It’s still a learning curve for us. We’re trying to figure it out. But after the game, we all knew it. We didn’t match the physicality from the jump, and then we tried to bring it later on, and it didn’t go our way.”
Champagnie said a more physical first half could’ve eliminated half of the Wizards’ turnovers. They finished with 23 turnovers — 15 more than they tallied in their opening-night win over the Milwaukee Bucks. That’s 23 possessions without a shot attempt in a game a few more makes could’ve proved the difference.
Kyshawn George had eight of those turnovers, including three costly ones that derailed a promising third-quarter run. Two of those were careless entry feeds to Anthony Davis that Toronto intercepted and turned into transition layups. The other was a forced drive where he again lost his handle in a crowd of Raptors defenders.
