TORONTO — If the Toronto Raptors are going to climb back to .500 and really and truly put their disastrous 2-8 start behind them, they’re going to need to do a whole lot more than what they showed Sunday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Facing the worst team in the NBA, the Raptors couldn’t do enough as they fell 116-112.
This despite a game-high 24 points from Kyle Lowry and 22 from Norman Powell — who once again started in place of the injured OG Anunoby, who missed his 10 straight game with a calf injury.
It was an uneven start to the game as Toronto trailed the Timberwolves 27-26 after one-quarter of play. The Raptors shot just 38.1 per cent from the field and saw three starters forced to the bench early Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and Aron Baynes all picking up two quick fouls. Despite that, however, Toronto ended up taking eight free-throw attempts as the whistle was very tight in the early goings.
The flow and pace of the game eventually picked up for the Raptors, but not until assistant coach Adrian Griffin picked up Toronto’s 20th technical foul on the season — good for second among the NBA — with just under eight minutes to play in the second quarter.
This moment helped Minnesota to a quick five points, forcing Toronto head coach Nick Nurse to take a timeout with 6:35 left where it looked like Toronto found its footing as it proceeded to outscore Minnesota 23-15 the rest of the period and take a 58-54 lead at the half.
The solid ground the Raptors found didn’t last long though, as they surrendered 37 points in the third quarter and gifted Minnesota a 91-83 lead heading into the fourth largely thanks to a drought in the last 4:48 of the period that saw Toronto make just two field goals.
In the fourth, the Raptors that you would expect to see in a game like this did finally make an appearance as they went on an 11-2 run sparked by a Lowry three — after he got freed up thanks to a wipeout Baynes screen — to tie the game up at 98-98. Lowry scored nine as part of this run.
Baynes with the screen
Lowry with the #RapsOnSN pic.twitter.com/UTVTPlBvof— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 15, 2021
The Timberwolves wouldn’t go away, however, as they then responded with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 107-103 lead and their inevitable victory.
Coming into the contest, this was circled on the calendar as a scheduled win, and Toronto couldn’t even manage that.
Entering Sunday as the fifth-worst three-point shooting team, Minnesota shot 16-of-39 from deep (41 per cent) and largely outplayed the Raptors, looking like the more energetic and smarter team on the floor, despite the fact the Raptors had two days off to rest and recuperate from a recent road trip.
Looking ahead at the Raptors’ schedule they have a tough road of it with a back-to-back against the Milwaukee Bucks and then, looking further ahead, games with the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat and Houston Rockets.
None of those will be easy, unlike how Sunday’s affair was supposed to go.
