WASHINGTON (AP) — Keyshawn George scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and the last-place Washington Wizards beat the struggling Toronto Raptors 138-117 on Friday night.
CJ McCollum and Bilal Coulibaly each added 21 points to help the Wizards to their highest-scoring performance of the season. The Raptors owned the NBA’s fourth-best defensive rating entering Friday.
Washington halted a four-game home losing streak but still has the NBA’s worst record (6-23). The Wizards shot 59.3% (54 of 91) as a team, out-rebounded the Raptors 46-33 and outscored the visitors 36-17 in the fourth quarter.
Brandon Ingram scored 29 points and Immanuel Quickley added 25 for Toronto, which has lost nine of 13.
Sandro Mamukelashvili had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors, who played without starters RJ Barrett (knee sprain) and Jakob Poetl (back strain).
Toronto closed an 11-point halftime deficit to two by the end of the third quarter before succumbing to Washington’s late onslaught.
Justin Champagnie and Bub Carrington sank consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the Wizards’ lead to 10 points with 10:08 to play. Later, McCollum and Carrington hit 3s sandwiched around George’s running layup in a spurt that extended it to 120-104.
Coulibaly’s dunk in transition with 3:50 remaining made it a 20-point game for the first time
Up next
Raptors: Begin a five-game homestand Sunday against Golden State.
Wizards: Continue their homestand Sunday against Memphis.
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AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA