Raptors run out of gas in Minny
Timberwolves use a big second-half surge to post their ninth straight win at home
There was no question which team was the more rested on this night.
The Toronto Raptors, playing the second game in as many nights, had every excuse in the book to falter and when this one came down to a battle of wills, it was the Minnesota Timberwolves that wanted it more, earning a 115-109 win for their ninth straight victory at the Target Center.
“We didn’t match their intensity coming out of the locker-room in the second half,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. “We knew they were going to come out strong. We just didn’t move offensively. We were standing and watching the ball. We were trying to run our sets, but we were playing in mud.
“Our approach in the second half was just not there the way we have to play.”
One huge bright spot for Toronto in the loss was the play of Kyle Lowry, who went off for a season-high 39 points.
Lowry has not made a big deal about a fourth trip to the all-star game but, with just one game left to impress upon Eastern Conference coaches his worthiness, Lowry made a bit of a statement on the court.
The coaches will determine the reserves that will be announced Tuesday and with the Raptors not playing again until Wednesday, this was really Lowry’s last chance. It might get him a vote or two with the coaches, but it wasn’t enough to sway this game in Toronto’s direction.
With Jimmy Butler resting a sore right knee, Andrew Wiggins jumped to the forefront for the Wolves with a season-high 29 points of his own. Much has been made of Wiggins’ deferring to his new teammate, but that clearly wasn’t an option with Butler in a suit on the bench.
Wiggins was aggressive to the basket all night and had a key offensive rebound in crunch time to ensure Minny extended its home-court win streak.
The Timberwolves went to the line 42 times on the night compared to just 21 for the Raptors, which clearly was also a big factor in the final outcome.
In the third quarter alone, they got there 16 times, making 12 free throws in a 33-point frame for the hosts. With the loss, Toronto fell to 31-14, while Minnesota improved to 30-18.
JV AN UNWANTED NIGHT OFF
Coming off one of the best nights of his 2017-18 season, Jonas Valanciunas had almost zero chance of building on that thanks to foul trouble.
He picked up one early in the game when DeMar DeRozan failed to box out Nemanja Bjelica. He got his second diving for a loose ball and was on the bench extremely early with two fouls. He picked up his third and fourth before he played his fifth minute, meaning big-minute nights for both Lucas Nogueira (who normally doesn’t get any) and Jackob Poeltl.
Valanciunas was limited to just 11 minutes, the majority of that coming in the final minutes of the game.
POSTER NIGHT
Not sure what exactly Poeltl could have ever done to Wiggins, but for whatever reason the Toronto native seems to enjoy punking the young Raptor. Twice in last night’s game he dunked on Poeltl, both worthy of poster status. Wiggins has been saving his best for the Cleveland Cavaliers since the team that drafted him traded him to Minny. But the Raptors, his hometown team growing up, have been on the receiving end of some big Wiggins’ games as well. Wiggins has averaged more points against Toronto than just two other teams in the NBA.