The Toronto Raptors finally made a starting lineup change in their matchup against the Washington Wizards.
With the season beginning to slip away, Darko Rajakovic decided to change things up by benching Dennis Schroder and starting Gary Trent Jr. This meant Scottie Barnes would run point guard.
All five Raptors starters finished in double-figures. The Raptors new starting five was -8 in 9.5 minutes, but the Raptors were +38 with all other combos per Keerthika Uthayakumar.
Toronto had their way against the lowly Wizards beating them 132-102.
Barnes as the primary ball handler finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. Trent Jr. had 12 points on 3 made threes and O.G. Anunoby finished with a game-high 26 points. Also, Pascal Siakam chipped in with 22 points and 11 assists.
Dennis Schroder who saw 28 minutes of action from off the bench scored 9 points and had 10 assists. He was a team-high +29.
The Raptors recorded 43 assists in the win. They were one assist shy of tying their franchise record for most assists in a game with 44 which they set against the Detroit Pistons earlier this season.
Changing up the starting lineup wasn’t the only change Rajakovic made. He also put Jalen McDaniels back in the rotation along with Otto Porter Jr. Rajakovic went with a 10-man rotation consisting of those two, Schroder, Chris Boucher and Precious Achiuwa who didn’t play in the first half but was brought in the second half when Jakob Poeltl picked up his 4th foul.
Malachi Flynn who had been the primary backup point guard to the point, only came in the game at the end in garbage time. It’ll be interesting to see if Rajakovic sticks with this rotation for the time being.
The Raptors ultimately won this game thanks to its defense. Toronto made it difficult for Washington holding them to 46.7 percent from the field and 24.2 percent from three. They also forced the Wizards into 16 turnovers. The Raptors won the fast break points 28-8.
Next on tap
The new-look Raptors took care of business against a bad Wizards team and now they will have a true test ahead of them when they travel to Boston to take on the Celtics.
The Raptors are 0-2 against the Celtics in the season series thus far.
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