WE Recap: Wizards vs. Raptors 4/1/12

	1	2	3	4	FINAL
Wizards	21	21	19	31	92
Raptors	22	24	25	28	99

TOP PERFORMERS
Wizards			Raptors
Jordan Crawford	PTS	18	Andrea Bargnani	PTS	18
Chris Singleton	REB	8	Gray / Bargnani	REB	8
John Wall	AST	11	Jose Calderon	AST	8
Seraphin / Singleton	STL	1	Andrea Bargnani	STL	3
Roger Mason Jr.	BLK	2	James Johnson	BLK	3
John Wall	TO	4	DeMar DeRozan	TO	4
Chris Singleton	+/-	+4	Gary Forbes	+/-	+12

Wizards Player of the Game

I’m going to go with Kevin Seraphin and Chris Singleton.  Seraphin has continued his inspiring play. No Wizard has taken advantage of their increased playing time like Kevin. He has become a monster on the boards and a put back specialist. Singleton had one of if not his best game of the season, adding 8 boards to his 15 points and the best part was that his 15 points came on 5-8 shooting.

WE’s to Watch/WE Spotlight

John Wall had a decent game finishing with 15 points and 11 assists. He didn’t struggle from the field going 4-8 but he wasn’t as aggressive as WE would like him to be especially in a game where two starters were out.

Jose Calderon also had a pretty good game 15 points and 8 assists. He didn’t torch the Wizards like he has been known to do; there wasn’t anything spectacular from, just steady point guard play. He seems to get the better of Wall in their matchups.

The Good

The front line. Even with Nene and Trevor Booker both out for the game, and after getting down early The Wiz Kids never gave up and were able to overcome a 15 point lead and make the game competitive in the end.

The Bad

Rebounding. The Raptors dominated the Wizards on the boards and while the discrepancy doesn’t look that bad 43-31, the timeliness of said rebound killed the Wizards. With the game winding down and the Raptor’s leading by 3 with just over a minute to play. The frontline which played so well failed to box out Amir Johnson for a put back dunk.

The Ugly

The Wizards close out. I have watched this team improve all season long, they have cut up the knucklehead plays, improved their effort and hustle, but the one area the Wizards continue to struggle is fourth quarter play. The Wizards have started to play teams close, giving them hell until the last 3 minutes of the game when they forget how to play. I’ll chalk this up to the growing pains of a young team but it sure is ugly.