NBA Matchups: February 10

Toronto Raptors (front end) at Washington Wizards

Team Totals: Raptors 119.5, Wizards 114

Injury Report: OG Anunoby (Q, calf), Malachi Flynn (O, G League)

Raptors projected starters: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam, Aron Baynes

Wizards projected starters: Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beal, Davis Bertans, Rui Hachimura, Alex Len

Nurse quotes: Said he liked how active the defense was in the second half (Boucher was out there), said Boucher did a good job on Jonas Valanciunas, said the defense with Baynes wasn’t making the right reads, said Lowry’s back injury was new and he didn’t know what caused it, said FVV was determined to run the team after Lowry went down (played about 20 straight minutes).

Brooks quotes: Said Rui has to play with a purpose more and not coast as much, said it’s tough to makes shots over Len and he liked the screens he was setting on Monday, said Deni Avdija is excited about a new bench role, said Bertans starting was to “activate” him.

Stats and Notes:

*The Wizards’ defense is at a 105.1 D rating in the halfcourt in the last three weeks, and obviously FVV would be in a huge spot here. It sounds like Lowry is OK, but for what it’s worth the Raptors have 167 minutes with FVV, Siakam and Norm while Lowry is on the bench, and FVV has a per-36 line of 18/5/8 (poor shooting), Norm’s at 22/3/0 and Siakam is at 17/8/6. FVV’s usage rate in the last game was 29.1 and 33.3 in the second half, so the volume and matchup here are too good, especially if no Lowry. Plus, FVV has been ultra aggressive lately in the last two games with a whopping 26.0 drives per game.