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Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards passes around Amir Johnson #15 of the Toronto Raptors in the first quarter during Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the NBA playoffs at Verizon Center on April 24, 2015 in Washington, DC.Rob Carr/Getty Images

For moments on Friday night, when circus shots were falling like magic for DeMar DeRozan, and his team wouldn't stop fighting, it seemed like the Toronto Raptors had found new life in this playoff series. But the cold reality hit hard with the final buzzer.

After a roller-coaster contest at the Verizon Center Friday night, the Washington Wizards bested the Raptors 106-99 to take a 3-0 series lead and put the Raptors on the ropes. Toronto sits one loss away from being eliminated in the first round as the higher seed for the second straight year.

Despite a 32-point performance from DeRozan in response to two crushing losses in Toronto, it looked like the Raptors were about to be road-warriors too and change the tone of the series.

DeRozan began the game as a totally different player from the past two games, a man possessed. After going a combined 15-of-38 in the first two games of the series, DeRozan scored a franchise playoff record 20 points in the first quarter on 8-of-11 shooting, swishing all three of his attempts from beyond the arc and netting some remarkable shots he would otherwise rarely make.

Kyle Lowry, who had been 5-of-20 from the field through the first two games and left Tuesday's with a shin contusion, also came out hot, hitting two big three-pointers, his first of the series. The Raptors held a rare lead in the rebounding department, and despite Washington continuing with its typical up-tempo game, Toronto was hanging basket for basket, taking a 35-33 lead after the first quarter.

Pockets of Raptors fans hollered out from their posts, spotted throughout the red, white and blue shirted Washington crowd. Many had made the long trip from Toronto to D.C on over-night buses, and their team was so far was making it worth the trip.

But then, as has happened in each game of this series so far, the Wizards wrestled away the lead mid-way through the second quarter. John Wall subbed back into the game and made his mark with lightning-quick fast-breaks, breezy layups and stunning ball distribution.

Suddenly DeRozan's shooting touch cooled, and the smothering defence of budding Wizards star Otto Porter heated up. Toronto's star guard mustered two points in the second quarter. Lowry had none. Toronto followed up that stellar offensive first quarter with a paltry 13 points and trailed 54-48 at the half. DeRozan said it wasn't their defence, he just missed four field goals. The quarter would prove costly.

"I just missed shots –they didn't do nothing at all," said DeRozan in a despondent and quiet Raptors locker room after the game. "Every shot I took felt good, or I rushed it a little bit."

Second-half attempts to get back into the game were slow and methodical. Toronto kept the rebounding battle square, rather than letting the Wizards dominate the glass like in past games. They did a better job of keeping Wall out of the paint and scored some of their own points in the paint, evening the score by late in the third.

But the fourth quarter was a grinder. Lowry pushed to make things happen, continuing to shoot when at first things wouldn't fall, dishing out assists and creating two steals. Wall turned up the heat, kept driving to the hoop and drawing fouls, his fans singing out M-V-P every time he came to the free throw line.

Every time a Raptor came to the charity stripe, the video board promised fans a free sandwich from Chick-fil-a if he missed the pair, so the place got deafeningly intimidating. Washington veteran Drew Gooden was physical and provided key points. Still the Raptors manufactured some key turnovers and kept scoring on pace. A Lowry-to-Amir Johnson alley-oop dunk put Toronto in the lead, then seconds later, Washington's dominating big man Marcin Gortat delivered a put-back to steal it right back. Porter and Terrence Ross traded monster three-pointers. The tug-of-war was relentless.

In the final three minutes though, Washington just dug in harder, punctuated by big shots from Paul Pierce, ones that put the game too far out of Toronto's reach.

At night's end, the Raptors shot 37.4 per cent from the field, and Washington shot 47.4 per cent. DeRozan's 32 points came on 11-of 29 shooting from the field. Johnson contributed 14 for Toronto on the night, while Lowry had 15 and seven assists. Gortat led the way for Washington with 24 points and 13 boards, while Wall added 19 and 15 assists, Beal 16, and Pierce 18.

"Our offence hasn't been on the same cylinders it was on earlier in the year, but tonight we played better, we played extremely hard," said Lowry. "We are down 0-3 and everyone knows the history of that. We just have to take it one game at a time and at least try to get it back home."

Game 4 goes Sunday afternoon in Washington. If the Raptors could avoid the sweep, Game 5 would be Wednesday in Toronto.

"It's not over yet, we're still on life support," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. "There's no give up in this team, we haven't given up all year and we're going to continue to compete until they tell us we can't compete anymore."

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