Wizards expect series with Raptors to become more difficult, even up 2-0

Seriousness carried over from the court to postgame for Bradley Beal. In Game 2 of the Washington Wizards’ first-round playoff series, Beal drove and drove, scoring at the rim, yelling at the Toronto Raptors with uncharacteristic venom and staying angry throughout. Even in the locker room, he slipped on the vest of his tan three-piece suit and sat straight up, stone-faced, waiting for his backcourt mate, John Wall.

Once to his press conference, which started a touch south of midnight, a still-stern Beal leaned in to the microphone.

“We have to play like we’re down 0-2,” Beal said of Game 3. “Nothing changes. We can’t stop being aggressive. We can’t change anything. We have to make a few adjustments here and there in our game plan, but our aggression needs to stay the same.

“We have to play desperate. We have to play like we’re the underdogs. We still have to continue to play with that chip on our shoulder because they’re not going to back down. They’re not going to stop coming at us.”

Thursday, he called the snippy version of himself his “Inner Brad.” Inner Brad comes when he feels like it, Beal explained. He is expected to be around for the rest of the series, and is a reason why the Wizards have a 2-0 first-round series lead for the second consecutive season.

They were upstarts last year, when the playoffs were new for Beal and Wall and the Chicago Bulls were supposed to knock them aside, providing a building block of first-time playoff experience to the D.C. youngsters, not a series win. Instead, the Wizards ripped home-court advantage from the Bulls. They did it again this year to the Raptors and have an opportunity on Friday night at home for a historically insurmountable series lead.

Washington expects the series to become more difficult. Toronto will be fueled by desperation after losing home-court advantage. All-star point guard Kyle Lowry has been shackled by fouls, and his influence over the series, so powerful when he is on the floor, has been stifled by those whistles. Wall is able to dominate his backup, Lou Williams, and Beal is able to handle former Maryland star Greivis Vasquez, who ends up as a pseudo-shooting guard when Lowry is out of the game.

Messages from each team were unified on Thursday. The Raptors called Game 3 the proverbial “must win.” The Wizards were back in chilly Verizon Center, fighting overconfidence that could come from turning the catbird seat into a full recliner.

“We can play better and we’re going to have to play better,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. “The experience always helps. I think going through what we did last year, winning the first two games in Chicago and coming home, Chicago brought the fight to us in Game 3. That’s going to be no different [on Friday]. Toronto’s going to bring the fight.”

The Wizards’ regular-season finish was similar to that of a year ago, but how they arrived at 46 wins this year, after 44 last year, was flipped. In 2014, they were 22-19 on the road and at home. This season, they moved to 29-12 at home and just 17-24 on the road.

Last season’s problems at home continued in the playoffs. The Wizards dropped Game 3 against Chicago before finishing the series with a 4-1 win. Against the top-seeded Indiana Pacers, they won Game 1 in Indiana, narrowly lost Game 2, but were a mess in D.C., where they lost all three home games.

“We have to take it to a whole other level to protect home court,” Drew Gooden said. “Those have to be must-wins in our eyes. We can’t let those slip away right now in this series. Too valuable. You lose that Game 3? Game 1 doesn’t mean nothing here no more. You lose Game 4? What we did [Tuesday] doesn’t mean anything. We have to have the pressure on us knowing we have to get a couple wins.”

Toronto is not in a spot where it has to play personal mental games to drum up now-or-never thinking. No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in NBA history. The Raptors have been outrebounded severely, their all-star backcourt of Lowry and DeMar DeRozan has been outplayed by Beal and Wall, and if there is a Game 5 in Toronto, it appears a long way off.

“If we sweep, we sweep,” Beal said. “That’s our goal. We don’t want to go back to Toronto. If we do happen to sweep, it will definitely be a clear message that we’re serious about it. … At the same time, we’re not getting caught up in that.”

That was Outer Brad talking. Inner Brad worked his shooting mechanics after practice Thursday and looked irritated when a couple teammates clowned around in his vicinity. After scoring 28 points in Game 2, Toronto will have to find a way to stop whatever version of Beal shows Friday. So far, they have no remedy him or the rest of the Wizards.