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TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors have spent a season creating franchise history Billy Price Jersey , including a team-record 59 wins, in finishing first in the Eastern Conference for the first time.

They will be trying to overcome some of their history Saturday as they open their first-round playoff series with the Washington Wizards at the Air Canada Centre.

The Raptors are 1-12 all-time in the first game of a playoff series. Their only Game 1 victory came May 6, 2001, in in the Eastern Conference semi-finals at Philadelphia.

This will be the eighth time the Raptors have homecourt advantage to start a playoff series.

Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan is aware of that, but also said his team has been particularly good at home this season. At 34-7 at the ACC this season, the Raptors tied the Houston Rockets with the best home record in the league.

“We’ve been great at home all year,” DeRozan said. “It’s definitely something we took more pride in than ever and I think it showed. With that, we’ve got that confidence this time around more than ever. Like I said, it’s one of those moments to where we feel like when we are on our home floor, anything’s possible, and our swag is at an all-time high.”

The Wizards (43-39) and the Raptors (59-23) split four games this season, but Washington guard John Wall missed all four meetings between the teams because of knee surgery.

In three regular-season games against the Raptors in 2016-17, Wall averaged 25 points Billy Price Youth Jersey , 10.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds.

“We haven’t played with John against them,” said Wizards guard Tomas Satoransky. “We’re not scared. We respect them. There’s some positive aspects from this season.”

“We’ve got John back,” Wizards guard Bradley Beal said. “There’s no excuse for us not to go out there and get the job done.”

“They’re a good team,” Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas said. “We’re not underestimating them, and we know it’s going to be hard playing against them. We know they are tough, physical playing team. We’re ready, we know how we’re going to play and we’re going to play well, play hard.”

The Wizards lost five of six games to end the regular season, including their finale against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. Although they struggled all season with under .500 teams, like the Magic, they defeated nine playoff-bound teams after the All-Star break.

“I’m more than excited,” Beal said. “This is where players are made and everybody’s trying to fight for the same goal. It’s always fun and it gets very interesting this time of the year.”

Wizards center Jason Smith suggested it might be better to face Toronto in the first round than the Philadelphia 76ers, who ended the regular season on a 16-game winning streak.

“We are looking forward to the matchup with Toronto Authentic Anibal Sanchez Jersey ,” Smith said. “I, personally, am a little relieved to not have to go against the hottest team in the league, Philly. That’s not a team we want to see. We don’t match up well with them. We might have split the season series, but they are the hottest team right now and they don’t have Joel Embiid and that’s a little scary.”

The Wizards swept the Raptors in four straight games in the playoffs in 2015.

“The guys that were here three years ago know what it was like to get swept,” DeRozan said. “It wasn’t a great feeling at all. You learn from your mistakes, you understand how to be better. To have another opportunity to compete with these guys again, it’s definitely going to be fun. It’s always one of those scrappy, competitive games, and it’s (the kind of) games you want to be part of. To have the opportunity against a great team in the Wizards, it should be fun.”

The Wizards finished eighth in the East, 16 games behind the Raptors.

“Just because they’re an eighth seed, we are not going to look at them like they’re an eighth seed Chargers Kyzir White Jersey , because we understand what this team is capable of,” DeRozan said. “That’s a great challenge, and for us, it’s a challenge that we are definitely looking forward to.”

Toronto has had one of the better benches in the NBA this season, but one of the keys to the reserves, guard Fred VanVleet, injured his shoulder in the loss to the Miami Heat Wednesday and likely will be a game-time decision.

Raptors guard Lorenzo Brown, who was on a two-way contract, has been signed to a standard NBA contract and is eligible to play in the playoffs.

Wizards forwards Otto Porter Jr. (mild calf strain) and Mike Scott (concussion protocol) are questionable for Game 1.

Wizards guard Jodie Meeks is out for the playoffs despite indications that he will appeal a 25-game suspension for violating the league anti-drug program.

Free-agent guard Ty Lawson has been signed by the Wizards and will be eligible for the postseason.

SAN DIEGO — Padres manager Andy Green says make nothing of the statistic. The only thing that’s important is that the Padres will be going for a series win Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park.

But here’s the stat. The Padres lost Friday night’s series opener to the Pirates — marking the 18th time in the last 19 series that the Padres have lost the opening game in the series.

Saturday night they held onto a 4-3 win to improve to 14-5 in the second game of their last 19 series. Going into Sunday, they are 11-7 in the third game.

“I don’t put much into that first game of a series statistic,” Green said Saturday. “I think it’s just one of those things that you don’t make too big a deal out of. The goal is to win the series and we have Tyson (Ross) on the mound for the rubber game.”

The right-handed Ross (5-5, 3.32 earned run average) will be opposing Pittsburgh right-hander Jameson Taillon (5-6, 3.96 ERA) in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match.

The 32-year-old Ross has been the Padres most reliable pitcher this season. The Padres are 11-5 when he starts (including a 7-2 record over his last nine starts) J'Mon Moore Jersey Packers , although they have failed to score a run for him the last three times he has started.

Ross has not allowed more than three runs in his last nine starts and he has gone five or more innings in his last 11 starts. Over his last two outings, Ross has allowed three runs on nine hits and six walks in 13 innings. And his ERA over those past nine starts is 3.08.

Ross has already made one successful start against the Pirates this season. On May 18 in Pittsburgh, Ross held Pittsburgh to two runs on five hits and four walks with two strikeouts over six innings to get credit for the win in a 3-2 Padres victory.

Sunday will be Ross’ seventh career appearance against the Pirates. In six previous starts, Ross has a 2-2 record and a 3.24 ERA. Another thing Ross has going for him Sunday is Petco Park. He has a career 2.91 ERA in the Padres’ downtown home in 53 games (44 starts).

Taillon, 26, will be facing the Padres for the first time this season although he will be making his third career start against the Padres. He has a 1-0 record with a 1.26 ERA over 14 1/3 innings in his first two outings against the Padres. He shut out the Padres on three hits and two walks over eight innings in 2016.

Like Ross, Taillon will also be making his 17th start of the season. After starting the season 2-0 with a 0.89 ERA in his first three starts, Taillon has gone 3-6 with a 4.87 ERA in his last 13 starts. But he has won each of his past three road starts, giving up four runs in 21 innings.

The biggest plus for Taillon Sunday could be the sunlight. He is 9-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 17 career day games and 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in five daylight starts on the road.

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