Holding Jonas Valanciunas off with one arm and trying to wrap his large right hand around the ball with the other in Game 2, Nene accomplished what has been so difficult for the Toronto Raptors: He pulled in a rebound.
Nothing has been more lopsided than the fight for rebounds during the first two games between the Washington Wizards and the Raptors. The Wizards left Air Canada Centre on Tuesday for the second time in four days with a win. They are up 2-0, and playing a rough-and-tumble brand of basketball that Toronto, to this point, can’t handle.
There were indications before the series a rebounding gulf was likely. The Wizards were tied for sixth in rebounding. Toronto was 27th. The Wizards were third in the league in rebounding differential. Toronto was tied for 20th.
That has carried over. Toronto’s defensive rebounding percentage is a woeful 67.8 in the series. Compare that to Washington’s 83.7, and it creates the biggest rebounding mismatch of the playoffs so far. The Wizards’ plus-15 rebounding differential is the highest in the playoffs. Only the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls also have a double-digit rebounding advantage.
Before the series started, Toronto coach Dwane Casey outlined the importance of rebounding. Yet, his team was clobbered in the first game when the Wizards had 19 offensive rebounds. During the days between games, Casey was asked about rebounding in all manners. What’s the ratio between effort and skill? Who needs to do more? How can you stop Washington? His conclusion was simply that the Raptors needed to try harder as a group.
The change in results during Game 2 was modest on one end. The Wizards went from 19 offensive rebounds to 10. Though, overall, the rebounding differential increased from 13 to 17.
“Our biggest thing is that we have to be more physical,” Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal said. “We have to hit them first. They think they’re a physical team, and they are. But, we’re not going to back down from that.”
Every individual who was on the floor for the Wizards in Game 2 had more rebounds than the combined total of the Raptors’ starting forwards, Terrence Ross and Tyler Hansbrough. Backup point guard Ramon Sessions had two. John Wall had one. Ross and Hansbrough, who played a total of 37 minutes, had zero. Ross is a former slam dunk champion and Hansbrough has started both games at power forward. He is yet to come up with a rebound.
“Any players who step on the court need to be ready,” Nene said. “I hope we maintain this focus, maintain our humbleness and our tough game.”
Unable to rebound, Toronto has been stuck. Their speed and athleticism advantage is muted, and they crumple into halfcourt sets that often produce isolated play. In Game 2, the Raptors finished with 19 assists. Wall had 17 assists by himself. Washington has handled point guards Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams, plus shooting guard DeMar DeRozan with fluctuating usage of on-ball traps. On Williams, in particular, the strategy has been effective.
“We’ve been mixing it up,” Wizards forward Drew Gooden said. “Sometimes we’ve been trapping him, sometimes we haven’t been trapping him to keep him on his toes. We’re trying to break his rhythm.”
“The first two games, I just think they have done a really good job of coming in here and deciding that they want to outwork us,” Williams said.
This is precisely the team the Wizards wanted to be and it now has them in a position of strength. When a visiting team goes up 2-0, it wins a best-of-seven series 89.7 percent of the time. Which leaves the Wizards with a kung-fu grip on the series, if not quite an outright death lock, and the main reason has been rebounding.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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