TORONTO (AP) – Pascal Siakam had 27 points and 10 rebounds and the Toronto Raptors extended their season-high home winning streak to seven by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-107 yesterday.
Jakob Poeltl had 14 points and 11 rebounds, matching his career high with his fourth straight double-double, to help the Raptors improve to 24-4 all-time in home meetings with Minnesota.
Fred VanVleet scored 28 points for Toronto, while Gary Trent Jr added 19, O G Aunoby 15 and Scottie Barnes 10.
Rudy Gobert had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Naz Reid scored 22 points for the Timberwolves, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back.
“A lot of adversity for us, but we came out and we tried to compete to try to win the game,” Gobert said. “Obviously, Toronto is a very physical team. They kind of wore us down throughout the whole game. At the end, we just ran out of gas.”
The Wolves played without guard Anthony Edwards, who left in the first quarter because of a sprained right ankle. Coach Chris Finch said Edwards is using a walking boot, adding there’s no timetable for his return.
A first–time All-Star this season, Edwards was injured when he landed awkwardly after jumping while throwing a pass.
Jaden McDaniels scored 18 points as the slumping Wolves lost their third straight and fifth in six.
“We’ve got to keep our heads up, we’ve got to keep fighting,” Finch said.
“We’ve got to stay positive right now. That’s all we can do.”
Minnesota has lost 18 straight in Toronto. The Timberwolves last won north of the border on January 21, 2004, when Sam Cassell, Kevin Garnett and Latrell Sprewell were the Wolves’ leading scorers in a 108-97 victory. Toronto’s only home loss in the series since was a 116-112 defeat on February 14, 2021, when the Raptors were playing in Tampa, Florida, because of border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Siakam made just one of six from three-point range yesterday, but shot 10 for 16 inside the arc.
“He’s had a couple of games in a row now where we’ve seen a lot of variety in what he’s doing,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “That, to me, is his recipe for having a good night.”
Toronto led 32-26 after one and 66-58 at halftime.
Reid’s basket with 4:16 left in the third gave Minnesota its first lead since the opening minutes of game but the Raptors closed the period with an 11-2 run to take a 94-85 lead to the fourth.
“We didn’t do a great job of managing the end of any quarter tonight,” Finch said.
