WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 - Barbosa, Johnson Lead Raptors Past Wizards 106-89

TORONTO (AP) - Any signs of progress Wizards coach Randy Wittman
had seen in recent games were entirely absent Friday night.
      Leandro Barbosa shook off flulike symptoms to score 19 points,
Amir Johnson had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors
beat Washington 106-89, handing the Wizards their third straight
defeat.
      "They outplayed us in every phase of the game," Wittman said.
"It's disappointing after we've been playing at a pretty high
level. Tonight wasn't it."
      Wittman, whose team lost 109-103 at Orlando on Wednesday, was
especially upset to see the Wizards outrebounded by a wide margin,
61-37.
      "Rebounding is effort," he said. "We didn't have that same
effort tonight that we've had, and it showed."
      JaVale McGee, who missed six of his eight shots and finished
with eight points, shared his coach's frustration.
      "We should have come out a little bit harder, we should have
played harder D," he said. "We've got another game (Saturday at
home against the LA Clippers) so we've definitely got to make up
for it."
      Linas Kleiza scored all of his 15 points in the second half, and
Jose Calderon had a season-high 17 assists as the Raptors bounced
back from consecutive blowout losses to Atlanta and Boston and
improved to 2-9 without leading scorer Andrea Bargnani, who is out
with a strained left calf.
      Held scoreless in Wednesday's 100-64 defeat at Boston, Amir
Johnson hadn't reached double figures since Jan. 16 but bounced
back with a strong showing in this one.
      "Amir was a monster," coach Dwane Casey said. "He did a good
job rolling to the basket and cleaning up the offensive boards."
      Seven of Johnson's rebounds were at the offensive end. Toronto
finished with 23 offensive boards to Washington's 11.
      James Johnson scored 13 points and DeMar DeRozan had 11 as
Toronto topped 100 points for just the third time this season,
exceeding the 80.2 they'd been averaging without Bargnani. The
Raptors scored 104 points Dec. 26 in an opening night win at
Cleveland, and had 111 in a double-overtime win at Utah on Jan. 25.
      "This was a game we definitely needed," DeRozan said.
      Barbosa missed Friday morning's shootaround with flulike
symptoms but showed no ill effects against the Wizards. He scored
nine points in the second quarter and had six more in the third.
      "Leandro picked us up in the first half, Linas took it over in
the second and Amir was solid throughout," Casey said.
      Nick Young scored 21 points and John Wall had 15 as the Wizards
lost for the fourth time in five games. Trevor Booker had 13 and
Jordan Crawford 11.
      Booker said the Raptors played as though they were looking for
payback for a Jan. 10 loss at Washington, the Wizards' first
victory of the season following an 0-8 start.
      "I know they remember us beating them so I know they wanted
some revenge," Booker said.
      Washington dropped to 1-10 away from home this season and has
won just four times in 52 road games since the start of last
season.
      The Raptors were up 80-69 heading into the fourth and pulled
away from there, leading by as many as 22.
      Toronto, which led by 10 at the break, matched a season high
with 55 first-half points.
      Wizards veteran Rashard Lewis scored eight points, leaving him
six shy of 15,000 for his career. When he reaches the mark, Lewis
will join Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd as the only players to score
at least 15,000 points, grab 5,000 rebounds and make 1,500
3-pointers.
      NOTES: Calderon's career high in assists is 19, set twice. His
17 assists were more than Washington's total of 13. ... Calderon
also had a season-high eight rebounds, one shy of his career best.
... Kleiza returned for the Raptors after sitting out Wednesday
with soreness in his surgically-repaired right knee. ... Wittman
was the replacement when Casey was fired by Minnesota in 2007.