Timberwolves vs. Raptors: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been in search of a win over a quality opponent for weeks, but they weren't able to snatch one Thursday evening at Air Canada Centre despite a valiant effort from Karl-Anthony Towns and Co.
In a back-and-forth battled loaded with offensive fireworks, the Toronto Raptors tamed the Timberwolves 124-110 to capture their seventh win in their last eight games and improve to 15-7.
The Timberwolves, who dropped to 6-16, have lost two games in a row and six of their last seven.
Kyle Lowry (25 points, 11 assists) and DeMar DeRozan (27 points, eight rebounds) continued to lead the charge for the Raptors—who shot 44.4 percent from three-point range as a team. Center Jonas Valanciunas was also steady with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The NBA on ESPN provided an overview of just how electric Lowry has been over the Raptors' last seven games:
Minnesota countered with 29 points from Zach LaVine, 17 points and 11 boards by Towns, and 25 points from hometown kid Andrew Wiggins.
However, those robust tallies weren't enough to hold off a Raptors team that overcame a sluggish start and outscored Minnesota 36-21 in the fourth quarter.
The Timberwolves trotted into Thursday night's cross-conference clash with the NBA's sixth-ranked net rating (plus-8.3 points per 100 possessions) in first quarters, and they continued to throttle the opposition over the game's first 12 minutes.
Wiggins came out scorching, with 11 points in the opening frame, and allowed the Timberwolves to take a 10-point lead entering the second quarter.
But in what's become a trend for the Timberwolves this season, they faltered despite seizing control early.
The Raptors clawed back throughout the second quarter and cut the deficit to single digits, and they entered halftime tied at 59-59 thanks to DeMarre Carroll's hot stroke from beyond the arc and a momentum-shifting slam by DeRozan:
Of course, the Raptors' second-quarter surge shouldn't have come as a surprise. Toronto entered Thursday as one of three teams with a better net rating in the second quarter than Minnesota, and a flurry of field goals put the Timberwolves in a familiar spot, according to the Associated Press' Jon Krawczynski:
Head coach Tom Thibodeau's squad figured to be in danger of collapsing in the third quarter, just as it has all season long, but Towns came alive after scoring two points in the first half.
A wrecking ball below the free-throw line, Towns put the Timberwolves on his back and jolted them back to life when he took the Raptors off the dribble and threw down a poster-worthy slam over Valanciunas:
Towns finished with 15 points in the stanza to push the Timberwolves back up by one entering the fourth quarter, but Minnesota wasn't able to silence Toronto with the game on the line, as TSN's Josh Lewenberg noted:
The Raptors' defensive intensity cranked up, and Lowry's tenacity on both ends of the floor vaulted the Atlantic Division leaders back into the win column following a hard-fought loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday evening.
Speaking of the Atlantic Division, all eyes figure to be on the Raptors again Friday evening, when they clash with the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
The Timberwolves will also be back in action for the second half of a back-to-back when they host the Detroit Pistons on Friday.
A complete 48-minute effort will be necessary, too, or the Timberwolves could be in danger of dropping their fourth straight when they welcome the Golden State Warriors to town on Sunday.
Postgame Reaction
According to TSN's Josh Lewenberg, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey was not thrilled with his team's effort on defense:
"They really outplayed us, energy-wise, for three quarters," Raptors point guard Cory Joseph said, per the Toronto Star's Doug Smith. "In the last quarter, we stepped it up, rotations were faster, and we were playing with a little bit more grit."
"I think the same way we played the fourth quarter, we gotta do that for a full 48 (minutes)," Joseph added, per Smith. "We’ve got to have high energy, we have to cover for each other, when somebody makes a mistake we have to be better at our rotations. We’ve got a lot to get better at, but the thing is, we’re capable of doing it. We show flashes of it. We just have to continue to grow."
And while the Raptors weren't pleased with their performance over the first 36 minutes, Thibodeau took away some positives despite a disappointing fourth quarter.
"I thought the first three quarters were very good, connected, making the right reads, right plays, ball movement and screening a lot of good things happened," Thibodeau said, per the Associated Press' Paul Attfield. "Then in the fourth quarter we got away from that."
Stats courtesy of NBA.com.
