MINNEAPOLIS — At least they’re not alone.
That the Toronto Raptors have had a challenging and confounding season is hardly news, but they’re not the only team to be going through something.
Take the Minnesota Timberwolves who haven’t won a playoff series in 20 years and so — on the strength of an encouraging 2021-22 season when they exceeded expectations and made the playoffs, only to lose in the first round — decided to go all in this past summer and trade for … Rudy Gobert.
Which is where the two teams diverge. The Raptors stood pat after their own surprisingly successful season and so can at least take comfort in knowing they still have moves they can make, big and small.
How they fare over the next few weeks will likely have an impact on what happens at the trade deadline Feb. 9. Winning might tell one story but losing — and the way the Raptors have been losing — will tell another.
The Timberwolves? Not so much. Their book is written, except for the ending. They have 30-year-old Gobert on the books for $131 million and three years after this one and traded four unprotected first-round picks, a pick swap and their 2022 pick, (Walker Kessler, a fine-looking rookie) for the privilege.
Being under .500 and hanging on to a spot in the play-in tournament wasn’t supposed to part of the program. The TWolves thought they’d be making a run at the Western Conference Finals.
The Raptors have their own issues, however, and are running out of time to fix them. Thursday night should have been a gift from the schedule gods: Minnesota was without Gobert (groin soreness) and has been without Karl-Anthony Towns since Dec. 1 (calf strain). Minnesota had lost their last two, was playing on the second night of a back-to-back having lost in Denver Wednesday while the Raptors were resting comfortably at the Four Seasons in downtown Minneapolis.
For about 40 out of 48 minutes Toronto dutifully did their best to kick the Wolves when they were down, but couldn’t take advantage of the rest advantage in what ended up being a 128-126 win for Minnesota, and which will join the long list of hard-to-explain losses for a Raptors team that seems to specialize in them.
The game turned in the fourth quarter when Minnesota guard DeAngelo Russell exploded for 16 points. He made his first of three consecutive triples with the Raptors leading by 12 with 8:18 to play and then won the game at the free throw line with a pair after drawing a shooting foul on Fred VanVleet with 9.9 seconds to play to complete the comeback from down 18 in the first half, 10 at the intermission and eight to start the fourth quarter.
The Raptors had an excellent chance to win it, but O.G. Anunoby couldn’t convert a good look from three at the buzzer.
“We struggled to stop them all night,” said VanVleet. “We got a nice little string of stops when we were up 18 [in the second quarter]when we were making them miss and then they made plays down the stretch, got hot and we got kind of stalled out a little bit.”
The Raptors had the game in control for most of the night and enjoyed a strong outing offensively. Scottie Barnes led all scorers with 29 points on 15 shots while adding eight rebounds and five assists. VanVleet had 25 points and 10 assists and Siakam just missed a triple-double with 13 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, although he was just 6-of-15 from the floor. The Raptors shot 14-of-28 from three and 52.9 per cent from the floor overall, but their only score down in the last 5:54 of the game was a dunk by Barnes with 68 seconds left that tied the score, setting the stage for Russell winning at the line.
Toronto was outscored 27-17 in the fourth quarter and shot just 6-of-17 from the floor.
Minnesota was led by Russell’s 25 and improved to 23-24 for the season.
Defence was the issue again for Toronto as Minnesota shot 50.6 per cent from the floor and 17-of-40 from deep after a slow start with Russell’s late explosion a symptom of a greater ill for a Raptors team that gave up 130 to a short-handed Milwaukee Bucks team on Tuesday and ranks 29th in opponents effective field goal percentage.
“He obviously got going,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of Russell. “But I don’t think it’s ever too late [to adjust], you just really gotta get out to him, press up on him and make him bounce it. Or make him almost drive it inside line and make something else happen, especially after he’s made a couple [of threes].”
The Raptors drop to 20-26 with the loss, 1-2 on their three-game road trip and 6-15 on the road overall. They are in 11th place in the East and 1.5 games out of 10th place and the final play-in spot, and five games out of sixth place and the final playoff spot.
Minnesota is trying to hold its own and got a much-needed win on tired legs while short-handed to help their cause and improved to 23-24.
Nurse and TWolves head coach Chris Finch are old friends, but there is no room for sympathy in these types of situations.
“We don’t call to commiserate, no,” joked Nurse. “All I know, I think they’re playing very well.”
The Raptors did what they do as well as they’ve done in quite some time, at least in the first half. The Raptors led 76-66 with some gaudy shooting numbers for the NBA’s worst shooting team: Toronto shot 9-of-14 from three and 64 per cent from the floor overall.
VanVleet has played some of the best basketball of his season on the Raptors’ three-game road trip and got Toronto going by seemingly getting into the paint anytime he wanted. He converted at the rim and spit the ball out to an open three-point shooter as appropriate and knocked down both of his three-point attempts also.
The Raptors also got some nice minutes from Joe Wieskamp, who made his first appearance while playing on his second 10-day contract. The 6-foot-6 wing did his job, knocking down a pair of corner threes set up by Siakam as the Raptors pushed their 37-31 first-quarter lead to 18 when Wieskamp drilled his second three in front of the Raptors bench midway through the second quarter to cap a 21-9 run. In all, it was an impressive debut for the second-year pro who finished with nine points in 12 minutes and justified Nurse’s decision to play him ahead of regular rotation pieces Chris Boucher and Christian Koloko.
“Joe exotic, that’s his nickname,” said VanVleet. “He’s coming with great energy, shooting with confidence, could be a good fit on that bench unit, add some shooting and some spacing out there. He’s got to hold his own on the defensive end, but I thought he was great tonight. Three for four, plus-10; pretty good debut for a 10-day guy.”
The Raptors played long stretches of zone, sticking to it as the TWolves started off shooting 2-of-12 from three and finished the half at 5-of-18.
But Minnesota began to warm up from deep. After their slow start, Minnesota banged in 10 of its next 23 from distance, including 7-of-13 in the third quarter. A pull-up three by Anthony Edwards with 31 seconds left pulled the Timberwolves within five before Minnesota’s own Gary Trent Jr. answered with a three of his own to keep the Raptors’ lead at eight to start the fourth.
Edwards also spent his fair share of time at the free throw line, bulling his way to the rim and drawing fouls at will. He had 10 free throw attempts through three quarters and finished 11-of-12.
Add it up and the Raptors lost another game that was there for the taking. A theme for the season if there ever was one.
The Raptors head home for a brief respite before their longest road trip of the year. They host the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks Saturday and Sunday before heading west for a seven-game swing.
Whatever direction their season ultimately takes will reveal itself soon enough. Unlike the Timberwolves, the Raptors at least have options. Cold comfort, but take what you can get.
