WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- A change in defensive strategy allowed the youthful Washington Wizards to turn the tables on the Toronto Raptors.
Larry Hughes scored 16 points and Jarvis Hayes and Juan Dixon added 13 apiece as the Wizards held the Raptors to four points in the second quarter and coasted to an 86-60 victory.
Washington ran off the first 16 points of the second quarter and outscored the Raptors, 29-4, in the period. The four points were the fewest allowed in a quarter in franchise history and matched the third-fewest scored in a period in NBA history.
"We had a game plan, but I didn't think it was going to be that effective," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "I wanted to do it early, the first play of the game, but I got a lot of good suggestions from my assistant coaches that said let's establish our man-to-man defense, maybe some zone in there every once in a while.
"(Then) come with the pressure, the game plan stuff in the second quarter, and use it as a surprise as opposed to giving your hand away. Kudos to my assistants, it worked."
The Wizards held a 51-23 halftime advantage, with the 23 points representing the lowest total for a half in Toronto history and the fewest ever allowed by the Wizardsy. Washington also set a franchise record for fewest points given up.
A week ago, the Wizards dropped their third straight against Toronto, 82-79.
"Last Friday, we played their style," Washington guard Gilbert Arenas said. "We walked the ball up the floor. This time, we made them play our game. They took shots out of rhythm. We were running at them all day. We didn't let them get into a rhythm, and I think that was the difference in the game today."
Arenas contributed 11 points, Jared Jeffries had 10 and Christian Laettner grabbed 11 rebounds for the Wizards, who wrapped up a 2-1 homestand.
"Our plan was to come out and go at them, make them shoot shots and if they get an open look, run at them and make them shoot with a hand in their face," Jeffries said.
Jordan has Washington believing in his system.
"Defense, coach stressed defense all the time," Dixon said. "We want to be one of the best teams in the league, and we are doing a good job of it. We are holding teams to a low shooting percentage, we're getting steals, blocks, taking charges and with all those things adding up, at the end of the game we'll get a win."
However, Washington's success in this one had a lot to do with Toronto's futility. Averaging an NBA-low 76.3 points per game, the Raptors shot 37 percent (25-of-68), committed 22 turnovers and were outrebounded, 48-38.
"We let ourselves get out of sync offensively when they hit us with a little bit of a trap," Raptors coach Kevin O'Neill said. "We just gave in mentally and didn't play the way you're supposed to play. When you do that, things go downhill from there."
Vince Carter made both second-quarter baskets for Toronto and totaled 18 points on 8-of-21 shooting. Morris Peterson chipped in 11 points off the bench as the Raptors fell to 0-2 on the road.
The Raptors were playing on consecutive nights, but Carter had a more blunt reason for the defeat.
"No effort," he said. "We simply gave no effort. No effort, no nothing. We were beat from the beginning of the game."
Toronto was coming off Thursday's 77-71 victory over Dallas. The Raptors are 2-0 in the first game of back-to-backs, but 0-2 in the second contest.
"We have to figure out how to come out mentally playing back-to-backs and have concentration and effort that we need," said forward Antonio Davis, who had seven rebounds but did not score in 29 minutes. "I know it's difficult, but that's just a part of this business. Everybody goes through it, so there's no excuses, we just have to figure out a way to correct the things we're doing."
The Wizards were not lighting things up themselves, shooting 40 percent (31-of-78). But they scored 28 points off turnovers and made 19-of-26 free throws.
