When the Raptors entered the fourth quarter of Game 1 with only 56 points against the Wizards, things looked rough for the home team. When Kyle Lowry fouled out with 2:35 left in the fourth, and the Raptors trailing 79-75, things looked even worse. But it was Lowry’s backup, Greivis Vasquez, who drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 82 with less than 30 seconds to go. His smooth celebratory shimmy was a dollop of icing on the Raps comeback:
Of course, the Wizards had plenty of time to retake the lead with a well-designed play off the timeout. But John Wall settled for a contested jumper after the lane closed up and there wasn’t enough time to reset.
I can just imagine the horror when Wizards fans realized Paul Pierce — who Washington signed for just this sort of situation — wasn’t going to touch the ball on that final possession.
Patrick Patterson grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 0.4 seconds left, just enough time for one last play by Toronto. And wouldn’t you know it, they almost pulled it off:
Otto Porter was covering Terrence Ross, and he could have been called for a foul as he backed into him looking for the ball. But on such a chaotic play (and without Ross having touched the ball yet), it’s no surprise there was no whistle.
The first game of the 2015 NBA Playoffs went to overtime. Unfortunately, the Raptors still had to play more basketball, which they may not have realized.
Washington routinely beat them to the ball and Wall found creases into the paint for a pair of dimes and a layup. Toronto didn’t score until 30 seconds were left in the extra session, and fell in Game 1, 93-86.
