WASHINGTON -- The Raptors sought revenge. The struggling Wizards just needed a win. Washington had victory in its grasp, until Toronto guard Cory Joseph snatched it away.

Guard Kyle Lowry scored 27 points and Joseph sank the game-winning 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining as the Toronto Raptors downed the Washington Wizards 84-82 on Saturday night.

"The game isn't over until the last buzzer goes off," Lowry said following Toronto's fourth straight win. "Fortunately for us, Cory made a shot before the buzzer went off."

The Raptors (11-6) were bounced out of the playoffs last season in a resounding four-game sweep by the Wizards. Trailing by eight points with late in the fourth quarter, another loss appeared eminent.

Yet the clanking Wizards (6-8) left the door open by not making a field goal after guard John Wall's floater capped a 10-2 run for an 80-72 lead with 4:24 remaining.

Despite shooting 32.9 percent from the field, Washington still led 82-81 with five seconds remaining. Wall, who finished with 18 points on 6 of 25 shooting, then missed two free throws, giving Toronto possession with three seconds left.

"I missed two big free throws that cost us the game at the end," Wall said.

Guard DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, but he played the role of passer on the Raptors' final possession.

"[DeMar] had the presence of mind with a very short period of time to make a play. He did" Raptors coach Dwane Casey said before noting, "Cory works on that shot tremendously."

Driving past Wizards guard Ramon Sessions to the right baseline, DeRozan fed an open Joseph in the left corner.

"[DeRozan] made a great read and threw it to the guy off in the corner," Sessions said. "Everybody was helping."

The 3-pointer gave Toronto its only lead of the second half and handed Washington its fourth straight loss.

"It was a good shot, I guess," Joseph said after scoring 12 points. "DeMar trusted me to take it, and it was up to me to knock it down."

The Raptors sank 11 of 24 3-pointers in the first of four meetings against Washington.

Guard Bradley Beal scored 20 points for the Wizards, who were outscored by 64 points in their previous three games. Center Marcin Gortat finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Wizards played their fourth game in five days shorthanded with five players unavailable. That included forward Nene, who suffered a strained left calf during Friday's 111-78 loss at the Boston Celtics.

"It's a tough night. Heartbreaker," Gortat said. "Sometimes it's a totally different story when you get beat by 30 then lose in the last second like that. We were right there. We felt like we had the game."

The Raptors won seven of the previous eight regular season meetings including all three last season. Such dominance mattered little when the two sides met during the opening round of the playoffs. The Wizards swept the four-game series, closing out Toronto with a 125-94 rout in Washington.

During morning shootaround, Casey said of last season's playoff series, "If we're made out of anything at all, the guys who were around should have that in the back of their mind."

Washington shook up its lineup by starting forward Jared Dudley over Kris Humphries for the first time this season. Whether because of the switch or extra oomph, the Wizards led much of the first half and 45-39 at halftime before the crowd of 16,841.

It took 27 games last season before the Wizards lost their eighth game. Now 14 games into the current campaign, Washington seeks a quick remedy.

"If we play games like that, more often than not we will come out with the win," Sessions said. "We just have to keep our heads up. ... It was a tough loss."

NOTES: Otto Porter scored 13 for Washington. ... Toronto committed 22 turnovers. ... Wizards G Gary Neal was a late scratch because of a strained left groin. ... Coach Randy Wittman said F Drew Gooden, who missed his fifth straight game, is dealing with a calf injury. ... Toronto hosts the Phoenix Suns Sunday. ... Washington heads back onto the road for its first meeting of the season against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.