Wizards may be without Wall (knee) vs. Raptors (Nov 19, 2017)
TORONTO -- The Washington Wizards defeated the Toronto Raptors once already this season without All-Star guard John Wall.
There is a chance on Sunday that the Wizards will have to try to do it again at the Air Canada Centre.
Wall, who scored only eight points in the 91-88 loss to the Miami Heat on Friday when he played with a swollen left knee, is listed as day to day.
When he was asked after the loss to the Heat about his status for the game Sunday, Wall said: "I don?t know. Depends on how I feel tonight and how I feel (Saturday)."
Wall missed the first meeting between the teams Nov. 5, also in Toronto, with a sprained left shoulder and the Wizards won 107-96 with Bradley Beal scoring 38 points.
The Raptors lost guard Kyle Lowry in that game with 8:08 to play in the first half when he was ejected for being assessed two quick technical fouls.
Wall said he does not know when the fluid buildup on the knee that he has experienced for nearly a week will subside.
"I mean, it just came up out of nowhere," Wall said. "It was feeling good and then it just popped up. I trust my training staff and those guys and our doctors to do what's best for me and they'll tell me if I need to sit and what I need to do to get it back right. I've been preparing myself by doing all of the exercises and corrective work they want me to do, so I'm just going to stick with the plan I've been doing."
The Raptors (10-5) are dealing with their own injuries.
Delon Wright is out with a dislocated right shoulder sustained in the win over the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday and will be examined by a specialist next week, Norman Powell has missed three games with a right hip pointer and Serge Ibaka missed the 107-84 win over the New York Knicks Friday because of a swollen left knee.
Powell is listed as doubtful and Ibaka is listed as questionable.
Players like Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, rookie OG Anunoby, Jakob Poeltl and Lucas Nogueira have picked up the slack.
They were factors in the Raptors holding the Knicks to 33 percent in shooting from the field on Friday.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey said he is not reluctant to give younger players significant minutes, and is not prone to taking them out of a game after a mistake.
"If you know me, I don't coach that way," Casey said. "If a guy can play whether that is half a year of college basketball and he is able to produce, then he can play. I don't care if he's from Mars or the moon, if he is young or old; if a guy can produce he is going to play. Our young guys are playing and producing and, so they will continue to play."
The injuries have been a test of the Raptors depth. So far, it has proven to be a strength.
"It is great," Poeltl said. "We have three guys out right now who are usually a big part of our rotations, its hard coming in and not playing much and then having to step up. We have a lot of players who are ready to play, and I think we showed it (Friday)."
In their loss Friday, the Wizards (9-6) were behind 50-29 after the first half and came back in the second half when Beal scored 22 of his 26 points. Wall scored all his points in the fourth quarter.
"We didn't make shots," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. "We got down on ourselves. When we got down on ourselves, we put our heads down instead of running back and making up for it on the other end. The stats basically tell you that. They had 19 fast-break points in the first half."
The Wizards shot only 28.6 percent from the field in the first half. It was their lowest scoring first half since March 23, 2015, when they scored 27 against the Golden State Warriors.
The Wizards, who have won four of their past five games overall, are 4-2 on the road this season.
The Raptors are 5-1 at home and have won three straight overall, including two on the road against New Orleans and the Houston Rockets.
Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan has scored at least 22 points in each of his last eight games.
