Is change a-comin’ for the winless Wizards (0-8)?
No, not as you might think, just with starting lineup tonight, which will be different for the second straight game.
Wizards coach Flip Saunders didn’t announce it when he spoke with reporters prior to facing the Raptors, but Andray Blatche is a game-time decision with soreness in his right shoulder. In his place, Trevor Booker will make his first start of the season. Booker averaged 10.2 points and 7.6 rebounds in 14 starts last year, including eight games in a row in March.
The rest of the Wizards lineup is John Wall, Nick Young, Chris Singleton and JaVale McGee. Saunders said Rashard Lewis (sore right knee) and Mo Evans (sore right knee) are both expected to play.
“What you hope happens, when you play Booker and Singleton, they’re going to give you energy and you’re going to score out of your defense,” Saunders said. “Then what you hope happens is that a guy like Nick can really get it going, can really carry you and we score more in open floor, transition-type things.”
Tuesday’s visit to Washington is the second of three games in three nights for the Raptors (4-5), who in their first season under head coach Dwane Casey have been very solid defensively in the early going. They’re second in the league in defensive field-goal percentage (39.4), having held Minnesota to 33.8 percent shooting in a 97-87 win on Monday.
DeMar DeRozan was a solid barometer of how the Raptors fared against Washington last year, averaging 25.0 points in Toronto’s two victories and 9.5 points in the Wizards’ pair of wins.
