When the Washington Wizards visit the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, the season series will be at stake.
On March 2-4, the teams split two games in Washington.
In each of the previous four seasons, the Raptors (36-38) have defeated the Wizards (33-41) to win the series.
Both teams have won at home recently. With a 118-97 victory on Friday, the Toronto Raptors completed their four-game season sweep of the Detroit Pistons.
Corey Kispert led the Washington Wizards to a 136-124 victory over the San Antonio Spurs with a career-high 26 points.
The Wizards will try to keep their slim hopes of getting into the play-in game alive.
They are two and a half games behind the Chicago Bulls, who are in 10th place and hold the final Eastern Conference play-in spot. Toronto, in ninth place, is three games behind Washington. In the standings, a tie is decided by the teams’ season series.
Bradley Beal (knee) and Kyle Kuzma (ankle) were both out of the Wizards’ game on Friday, making it the team’s second game in a row without them. In total, Kuzma has missed three.
Kispert responded with six 3-pointers, five rebounds, two assists, and one blocked shot on 9-of-14 shooting.
Delon Wright, the backup point guard, scored 24 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, which was a season high. Kristaps Porzingis had nine rebounds and 23 points.
Unseld praised Kispert and Deni Avdija’s aggressive play in the past two games despite the injuries to two key players. On Friday, Avdija had 21 points and 11 rebounds.
For the second consecutive game on Friday, the Raptors were without Scottie Barnes (wrist), Gary Trent Jr. (elbow), and Precious Achiuwa (hamstring). For the game on Sunday, all three are questionable.
Chris Boucher scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked two shots off the bench, and Pascal Siakam had 32 points to lead the scoring.
Will Barton started for Toronto for the second game in a row despite the injuries and scored nine points.
Malachi Flynn and Jeff Dowtin Jr. are also options. Flynn scored five points and Dowtin scored nine on Friday.
