Rapper gets ‘W’ he wanted

TORONTO — When the Raptors went to Drake — the team’s “Global Ambassador” — and asked him during which game he wanted to hold “Drake Night,” his choice was easy.

“If there’s anybody I want to beat, it’s the Nets,” the rapper said before the Raptors went out and did just that, 10589, at Air Canada Center on Wednesday night.

“I had some conversations with the guys and asked them to overdo it for me,” he continued with a smile. “I got to choose which game was going to be ‘Drake Night’ this year, and I felt like this was the one.”

Drake, a Toronto native and a fixture at Raptors games in recent years, sat in the front row in both Toronto and Brooklyn throughout the firstround playoff series between the teams last year. The Nets won Game 7 in Toronto when Kyle Lowry’s potential gamewinning shot was blocked by Paul Pierce.

“I think if we have any rivalry at all, this is it,” Drake said. “Obviously I have the utmost love for New York and Brooklyn, but in this particular arena at this particular moment, the one thing I want to do is knock off Brooklyn.”

Drake later took a dig at the Nets, saying he was looking forward to the Eastern Conferenceleading Raptors playing some teams “above .500.”

Mirza Teletovic, starting in place of a resting Kevin Garnett, finishing with 14 points, three rebounds and two assists. It was Teletovic’s second game back since missing three with a hip pointer.

“It’s kind of tough,” Teletovic said of playing through the injury, which he suffered on Dec. 8 against Cleveland. “I’m trying to hide the hip a little bit and not get hit in it, and I definitely feel cautious a bit because you think about it, but I’ll get better.”

Teletovic added it’s still going to be an issue for him for the “next two weeks or so.”

In addition to Garnett, Sergey Karasev (sore left oblique) and Brook Lopez (back) were out.