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Wall and Beal give Wizards 2-0 lead over Raptors

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Washington Wizards' backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 54 points to beat Toronto Raptors 117-106 on Tuesday evening to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round NBA playoff series.

After shooting a combined 11-for-41 (27 percent) in Game 1, the two guards doubled their field goal percentage with a 20-for-37 (54 percent) performance in Game 2.

"I thought we got great contributions from the backcourt - John and Bradley were great," said Wizards head coach Randy Wittman following the game in Toronto.

Beal scored a game-high 28 points, setting a personal playoff-best, surpassing his previous best of 26 points in the 2014 playoffs.

Wall added 26 points and set a franchise postseason-record in assists with 17, surpassing the previous high of 14 set by Gilbert Arenas in 2005.

Wall believes that the key to their bounce back was playing with an edge.

"A lot of guys on our team have that edge," said Wall following the game. "Sometimes they shy away from it at certain times. In the playoffs, you can't shy away from it."

With a 2-0 lead, Wall and his teammates are in an identical situation as last year when they won their first two road games against Chicago Bulls in the first round.

Washington ultimately won the series 4-1 before being eliminated by the first place Indiana Pacers in the ensuing round in six games.

"Being in the playoffs last year, we know the feeling of losing," said Wall of the 11 playoff games played last year. "We know that we're mature, our games have improved and we're playing better."

While the Wizards are now in control of the series against Raptors, Beal does not want to get too comfortable.

"Nothing changes, we can't stop playing aggressive. We got to play like we're down 0-2," said Beal on the team's approach for Games 3 and 4. "We have to play like we are the underdogs. We got to do our best to protect our home court and close it out one game at a time."

The series continues on Friday evening when Washington hosts Game 3. Endi