When the lineups were announced this game seemed like a likely win for Toronto.
Before the game, the Minnesota Timberwolves announced that Jimmy Butler (sore right knee) and Jamal Crawford (a sprained toe) were not active for the game versus the Toronto Raptors.
For Toronto, Fred VanVleet returned after missing the last two games with a right knee contusion.
Things started well for Toronto with five assists on its first six field goals but it didn’t have the stamina to stay with a rested Timberwolves team.
Here are some takeaways from a tough loss for the Raptors against a short-handed team.
[snippet id=3636937]
Foul game
This was a curiously officiated game to say the least.
At times, it was called with an incredibly loose whistle and at other times the stripes let the two teams play. The lack of certainty on what would be called impacted both the flow of the game and invited lots of complaining from the players.
The most vocal of whom was Kyle Lowry, who finished the game with five fouls to his name. Karl-Anthony Towns played only eight minutes for the Wolves in the first half due to three fouls. Jonas Valanciunas played 11 minutes and had four fouls just as the third quarter was getting started.
Because of the emphasis on foul calls, neither starting centre attempted a shot in the first half because they spent so much time on the bench.
Lucas Nogueira and Jakob Poeltl played a combined 33 minutes to make up for the absence of Valanciunas. Bebe was the first centre off the bench which kept Poeltl in his normal rotation primarily playing with the second unit.
The foul-fest benefited Minnesota greatly. Minnesota attempted 42 free throws which is twice as much as the 21 trips to the stripe Toronto had.
The third quarter was defined by 11 fouls committed by the Raptors that equalled 16 Minnesota free throws. On the contrary, Minnesota committed its first fourth-quarter foul with 5:45 left in the period.
Raptors need rebounds
One of the issues the Raptors need to address is rebounding.
It is not a good sign when your guards lead your team in boards, but that was the case Saturday night. Delon Wright led the team with six rebounds while Lowry and Serge Ibaka each had five.
Toronto gave up 15 offensive rebounds to Minnesota after giving up 17 to San Antonio Friday night.
Multiple times in crunch time the Raptors were not able to cut into the Minnesota lead because they couldn’t secure rebounds after forcing a miss.
[snippet id=3360195]
Lowry makes all-star bid
Lowry carried the Raptors offensively. This game would have been a blowout without him willing Toronto through large stretches of sluggish play.
The 31-year-old was aggressive from the outset, scoring eight of the team’s first 10 points on the way to 20 in the first half.
He finished the game with a season-high 40 points, with five assists and five rebounds. His previous season high for points was 36 against Charlotte.
After struggling with his shot to start the year, Lowry’s stroke once again looks fantastic as he was 14-25 from the field and went 6-of-10 from three in a losing effort.
The rest of the Raptors team combined for six three-point buckets.
With another big game, Lowry is making a late push to ensure he joins his backcourt mate DeMar DeRozan in the all-star game. He’ll find out if his hard work paid off when the reserves are announced Tuesday night.
Wiggins torments hometown team
Andrew Wiggins just loves playing against his hometown team. In his short career the Vaughn, Ont., native has saved his best play for games featuring the Raptors.
Wiggins posterized Poeltl not once but twice in the first half with powerful dunks. He finished the game with 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting and five rebounds.
“Maple Jordan” will get a chance to star in front of friends and family when Minnesota makes its one and only trip to Air Canada Centre at the end of the month.
[relatedlinks]
Schedule losses
A Western Conference road trip on the second night of a back-to-back is almost a guaranteed loss. Add in the fact that the Raptors just played their toughest stretch of the season with seven straight opponents with above-.500 records and the deck was stacked against Toronto from the beginning on Saturday.
After playing the gauntlet of Miami, Cleveland, Golden State, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Antonio and then Minnesota, the Raptors come away with 3-4 record; not bad, but certainly not great either.
It’s important to note that Lowry did miss three of those games. The four losses also came by six points or less.
Luckily for them, the schedule does get a bit lighter now, beginning with the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night.
