Wiggins steps up as Raptors fall
• Re- integrating DeMar DeRozan into the lineup is proving easier than expected.
The Raptors offence seems to have picked up right where it left off when DeRozan went out.
Unfortunately so too has the defence.
The Raptors had a nice night on the offensive end shooting 53.8 per cent from the field but had no answer for the Timberwolves duo of Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns who were both in top form helping the hosts to a 112-109 win over the Raptors.
Ironically, with the game on the line, the Timberwolves didn’t go to either of their big men instead putting the ball in point guard Tyus Jones’ hands with 20 seconds to go and the two teams tied.
Jones, who was 0- for- 3 for the game to that point from behind the arc calmly drilled the go-ahead three.
The Raps came down and got a two on a Jonas Valanciunas dunk but with 13 seconds left the Raptors fouled Wiggins, who sank both to re-establish the three-point lead.
Lowry with a rushed and off-balance three at the buzzer hit the side of the backboard to end any threat of overtime.
In a season where the Raptors seem to take one step forward for every step backward, that trend continued with the offence back clicking and those .
Another 60- point first half, followed a 70-point first half in DeRozan’s first game back from injury and the Raptors were off to the races.
This one, though, was not easy, not with Towns and Wiggins in lock step most of the night on the offensive end negating and then some everything the Raptors got from both DeRozan and Lowry.
Between them the Minnesota major scoring options actually outscored Toronto’s big two 60-50, and sen without the support the Raptors big two had behind them it was enough to win the game.
Where the Wolves got 21 from Shabazz Muhammad and little else the Raptors got 19 from DeMarre Carroll, 16 from Valanciunas and 11 from Terrence Ross to get the win.
Lance Stephenson made his Timberwolves debut in the game and had an immediate impact coming on for eight minutes in the second quarter and giving the ’ Wolves six points and a couple of rebounds.
Stephenson, who has been out of the NBA since Nov. 4 when he was with the New Orleans Pelicans, did not look like a guy who had sat out almost three months.
But in the second half with 12 more minutes Stephenson could not add to his scoring totals at all.
Carroll seems to have put his finger issues behind him going a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the arc for a 19- point game and the Raptors needed every one of them.
Likewise, Valanciunas continued his run of solid shooting going a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the game although the 16 points from him snapped a run of two in a row where he surpassed the 20 mark in each.
Before the game, Casey admitted he liked the direction his team was headed, particularly with DeRozan back and Patrick Patterson seemingly on the way although he did not play last night.
“I think we’ve got 29 games, 28 games to go so we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Casey said.
“We’ve gotta start making some hay, getting together, getting our consistency, most of all getting healthy ( and) getting our rhythm back from our health and go forward.”
The consistency he’s looking for has been at the defensive end where you will see it for a quarter or two, but rarely for a full 48 minutes.
That was again the case last night as t he Raps gave up a 30-point quarter in the third to let the Timberwovles back in this one.