The Toronto Raptors ended their first-round series against the Washington Wizards on Friday winning 102 to 92.

While Kyle Lowry led the way in game six with 24 points on a cool 60 percent shooting from the field, it was the return of Fred VanVleet and the resurgence of Toronto's bench that truly launched the team to victory. VanVleet - the de facto leader of Toronto's bench - had been out for about two weeks with a shoulder injury. His guys sorely missed his leadership on the floor, Toronto's bench having struggled through their first five matchups against the Wizards.

Friday night was a different story, though.

VanVleet came into the game to start the second-quarter and immediately sparked a 12 to four scoring run. It was VanVleet's play in the fourth that really shone, he and his teammates outscoring Washington's starters 15 to seven in a little under six minutes. VanVleet only ended the game with five points, four boards, and four assists, yet he impacted the game positively every time he stepped on the court. He sparked a certain confidence in his teammates and allowed them to thrive, all five Toronto bench players finishing with a positive plus-minus.

Dwane Casey admitted post-game that VanVleet was the reason for the bench's success. "We just added Freddy to the group - that's the difference," Casey said in an interview with Arden Zwelling. "He's kind of the engine. The toughness. That little birdie on the shoulder. I thought it really propelled Pascal and those other guys," he added.

Prior to Friday's W for the Raptors the series had been dominated by the home team. Toronto took games one, two and five, while Washington took games three and four.

DeMar DeRozan was crucial to Toronto's success having averaged nearly 27 points per game throughout the series. In game two he went off for 37 and helped the Raps to a 130 to 119 win. Business as usual.

Jonas Valanciunas was also extremely good throughout the series. The worry heading into the post-season was that JV wouldn't be able to defend Washington's pick-and-roll offense given his plodding mobility. Looking back, the worry might've been a bit overstated - Val did just fine.

He more than made up for his defensive shortcomings with low-post baskets and rebounds aplenty. JV basically averaged a double-double throughout the series with nearly 14 points and just over nine boards a game. The team's net rating was plus-15.6 with Jonas on the floor, as opposed to minus-14.1 with him on the bench.

In the fifth game of the series, Toronto's defensive rebounding rate improved to 78.1 percent when JV was playing, compared to a miserable 36.4 percent when he sat. He proved himself invaluable and ended up finishing the game with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

If the Toronto Raptors want to go much further in the playoffs though, they'll need a more sustained effort from their bench and they'll really need to crash the glass harder, especially considering the fact that they'll either be playing LeBron James or the Indiana Pacers. But for now, the Raps can rest. Their second-round matchup will be determined when the Cavaliers and the Pacers face off for game seven on Sunday.

All stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com, unless otherwise stated.