Thursday, January 31, 2008

TORONTO (AP) - The Toronto Raptors didn’t have to wait long for another shot at Washington, and they certainly took advantage of it.

Andrea Bargnani scored 19 points, Chris Bosh had 16 and Toronto used a big second quarter and a flurry of 3-pointers to beat the Wizards 122-83 last night.

The 39-point margin of victory matched the biggest in team history, a 112-73 win over Atlanta on April 12, 2002.



“They blew us out of the water,” Washington guard DeShawn Stevenson said.

Anthony Parker had 15 points and Jose Calderon added 11 points and 11 assists for the Raptors, who avenged a 108-104 overtime loss at Washington on Tuesday.

“We were mad about [Tuesday] night’s game, so we just came out and played our basketball game by being more aggressive,” Calderon said. “We did this tonight and didn’t let the other team get back.”

The top pick in the 2006 draft, Bargnani reached double figures for the third time in four games.

“If he continues to do that, this team is going to be a lot better,” Bosh said.

Juan Dixon had 12 points and Carlos Delfino added 11 for Toronto, which finished 13-for-18 from 3-point range. The Raptors are the NBA’s best 3-point shooting team, making 42.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Washington’s Roger Mason called Toronto’s shooting “phenomenal,” but Antawn Jamison said the Raptors benefited from easy looks.

“You can ill afford to have them shooting open jump shots like they did tonight,” Jamison said. “They got a numerous amount of open jump shots, and they converted them.”

Toronto has won a season-high six straight at home and eight of 11 overall.

“More than just the 3s, it’s the way we moved the basketball,” Toronto coach Sam Mitchell said. “We rebounded a whole lot better, we kept our defense like we did [Tuesday] night. The difference is we shot the ball much better and we rebounded better.”

Stevenson led Washington with 16 points. Mason had 14, Andray Blatche 12 and Jamison 11. The Wizards were without forward Caron Butler (hip flexor) for the second straight game.

The Wizards, who had won seven of 10, were out of this one early. Toronto scored the game’s first 12 points before Stevenson made a 3-pointer. The Raptors led 28-23 after the opening quarter.

“We just couldn’t get it going,” Jamison said. “We didn’t communicate. I’m disappointed with our performance defensively.”

A 3-pointer by Mason cut it to 36-32 with 7:56 remaining in the second, but that was the last time the Wizards were close. The Raptors pulled away with a 17-2 run over the next four minutes, capping the spurt with 3-pointers from Bargnani and Dixon, a hook shot by Rasho Nesterovic and a 3-pointer from Delfino, forcing Washington to call a timeout trailing 53-34.

“They executed very well,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “We tried different adjustments, and we just didn’t get it done. We didn’t do enough to close out people on the perimeter, and when we did, they still made shots.”

Toronto, which led 61-41 at halftime, evened the series at 24-24. Each team is 17-7 on its home court.

Notes — Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo said injured point guard T.J. Ford is close to returning to practice, but there is still no timetable for his return to games. Ford has missed 23 games because of a left-arm stinger. …

Toronto made a season-high 15 3-pointers in a Jan. 23 victory at Boston.

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