Raptors defeat T-Wolves, extend home-win streak to 7-Xinhua

Raptors defeat T-Wolves, extend home-win streak to 7

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2023-03-19 14:35:30

TORONTO, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The Toronto Raptors continued their dominance at home with a 122-107 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday evening.

Guard Fred VanVleet led the way with a game-high 28 points and seven assists, while All-Star forward Pascal Siakam grabbed his 19th double-double on the season with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Gary Trent Jr. came off the bench with 19 points and nabbed a career-high five steals.

Austrian big man Jakob Poeltl posted his 14 points and 11 rebounds, tying a career-best for consecutive games with double-doubles at four.

The Raptors led by as much as 10 points in the first half before the Timberwolves clawed back in the third quarter to take a three-point lead.

"It felt like a pretty low energy game. The building was quiet, our bench was quiet, their bench was quiet," said the Raptors head coach Nick Nurse following the win. "Then we hit a spark there and we were really moving and the pace came up."

Nurse's squad went on a 23-7 run in the final minutes of the third quarter and into the fourth to put the game out of reach and notch their third straight win by 15 or more.

With the win, the Raptors improved to 35-36 on the season and 23-13 in Scotiabank Arena. The team has not lost at home in over a month, their previous defeat was on Feb. 10 against the Utah Jazz. Toronto's all-time record is 12 consecutive wins at home set in the 2017-2018 and 2015-2016 seasons.

The Timberwolves were missing All-Star guard Anthony Edwards due to a right ankle injury suffered in Friday's loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Minnesota has now dropped 18 straight games at Scotiabank Arena, their last win was on Jan. 21, 2004.