Washington Wizards Odds-On Favorite To Deal Raptors Another Loss, Bag Another Win

Kyle Kuzma, Washington Wizards — Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis try to lead the Wizards to another win against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, Mar. 4. Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

The Wizards will try to make it back-to-back wins against the Raptors on Saturday
The Wizards will aim for their third-straight win over the Wizards
The Raptors need to improve their offensive prowess to even their regular season series with the Wizards

The Toronto Raptors will be looking to even things with the Washington Wizards Saturday at the Capital One Arena but may have their work cut out for them.

The Raptors bowed to the Wizards, 108-119, Thursday night, and oddsmakers have picked Washington to repeat as winners in their game this Saturday.

Washington is a -1.5 spread favorite to win over Toronto, according to USA Today Sports Wire. The moneyline for the matchup is -125 for the Wizards and +105 for the Raptors.

The duo of Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis led the way for Washington in Thursday's win. Kuzma finished with 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists, while Porzingis chipped in 25 markers to go with five caroms.

Three other players scored 10 points or more to push Washington to a 30-32 win-loss card, 10th in the Eastern Conference.

The Wizards were prepared for the Raptors, which Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. had expected to play aggressively.

"We knew this team was going to be extremely aggressive and physical," Unseld said post-game via ESPN. "I thought we managed to play through a lot of that throughout the game."

O.G. Anunoby led the Raptors' losing cause with 26 points, while Jakob Poeltl added 23 markers and 13 rebounds.

Five other players scored 12 points or more, but the Wizards shot it better from the field, 51.2% compared to Toronto's 44.6%.

"We've got to be all five players dialed in for the whole possession on defense for more possessions of the game," Poeltl said after the match. "We just let up a little bit too much. Gave up runs to them that we just can't allow."

Making it sweeter for the Wizards was the fact that this was the first time that Washington had beaten Toronto at home in a regular season game since February 2018. The win snapped the Raptors' six-game winning streak at the Capital One Arena.

"It feels like to me we just lacked some execution tonight in certain portions of the game," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "We didn't execute very well at all at the offensive end."

The Wizards and the Raptors will face off at 5 p.m. EST Saturday. The game will be telecast over NBC Sports Networks. Live streaming is also available via FuboTV.