There was no Jimmy Butler, practically no Karl-Anthony Towns in the first half, and the visiting Toronto Raptors were shooting 54 percent.
These are the types of games the Minnesota Timberwolves of the last few years didn’t win. This season’s revamped team is showing the toughness needed to compete with the league’s top teams.
Andrew Wiggins scored 29 points, Towns had all 22 of his points in the second half and the Wolves rallied from 11 down to beat the Toronto Raptors 115-109 on Saturday night.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that know how to play,” Wiggins said. “That’s the NBA for you. Someone’s injured, the next person just steps up. We have a good team, a lot of guys that can step up and make plays.”
With Butler out with a sore knee and Towns in foul trouble, Wiggins almost single-handedly kept the Wolves in it with 22 first-half points. In the second half, the Wolves got big minutes from Marcus Georges-Hunt (12 points), Gorgui Dieng and Tyus Jones (nine points apiece) and the seldom-used Shabazz Muhammad (seven points). The Wolves bench outscored Toronto’s 37-39.
“If you’re in this league, you’re a great player,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “So when someone’s out, it’s an opportunity for someone else to step in. As long as we play hard, we feel like we’re going to have a chance to win every night.”
The Wolves snapped a two-game skid.
Kyle Lowry led Toronto with a season-high 40 points on 14-for-25 shooting, including 6 of 10 from behind the arc.
Minnesota led by as many as 10 in the fourth before the Raptors answered with an 11-0 run to retake the lead. DeMar DeRozan’s 3-pointer put Toronto up 106-104 with 3:12 left. But Wiggins and Towns hit back-to-back 3s and Georges-Hunt added three free throws to help give the Wolves their third straight home win over the Raptors. (AP)