Timberwolves at Raptors
The Toronto Raptors seem to have recovered from their recent swoon, and a visit from the Minnesota Timberwolves should help them continue in the right direction. The Raptors aim for their seventh consecutive win over the Timberwolves, and their 11th straight home victory in the series Wednesday night. The Timberwolves have lost five straight overall and six in a row on the road, where they are 5-27.
The Raptors recently lost nine of 10 but have since taken two of their last three, including a 117-98 victory at Indiana on Monday in which Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams broke out red headbands in an effort to change the team's outlook. "When things are not going so fun, you've got to find some things to make it fun again," Toronto guard DeMar DeRozan told reporters. "We can't be too uptight or too down. We still have to have fun with it and I think Lou and Kyle showed that tonight. Just something small like that carries over into the game." This season hasn't been fun for the Timberwolves, who have the worst record in the Western Conference and the second-worst in the NBA and haven't won a road game since Feb. 8 at Detroit.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (14-52): Minnesota is running out of healthy players with guards Gary Neal (ankle) and Ricky Rubio (ankle) and big men Nikola Pekovic (ankle) and Kevin Garnett (knee) all listed as questionable. The nagging injuries are in addition to the prolonged absence of forwards Robbie Hummel (hand), Anthony Bennett (leg) and Shabazz Muhammad (finger). The rash of injuries leaves Minnesota with only two real offensive threats in guard Kevin Martin (19.7 points) and rookie forward Andrew Wiggins (15.7 points).
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (40-27): Lowry (18.2 points, seven assists) posted his seventh career triple-double in the win over the Pacers, and he and DeRozan (19 points) have been on a tear, trying to pull the Raptors out of their slump. Williams (15.2 points) also had a big game against the Pacers with 24 points off the bench and center Jonas Valanciunas (12 points, 8.6 rebounds) posted his 19th double-double of the season. Forward Terrence Ross left the Indiana game with back spasms and is questionable against Minnesota.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Minnesota coach Flip Saunders will not be with the team Wednesday, instead visiting his ailing father in Cleveland, so former Toronto head coach Sam Mitchell will take over in the interim.
2. The Raptors are 23-5 when they allow fewer than 100 points while Minnesota has hit triple digits only three times in its past 11 games.
3. The Timberwolves allowed an NBA season-high 78 points in the paint in Monday's 122-106 loss to Brooklyn and allows an NBA-high 47.9 points in the paint per game.