Revenge! Kanye puns! Birthdays!
Wednesday’s game between the Toronto Raptors and Minnesota Timberwolves promises to have all that and more. Andrew Wiggins and company are in town for a 7:30 p.m. tip on TSN 4/5 at the Air Canada Centre, and the Raptors should be hungry after coughing up a big lead in their Feb. 10 meeting.
“We played the first half and the second we started the All-Star break,” head coach Dwane Casey said at shootaround Wednesday, correctly pointing out that his team may have looked past a young, hungry Wolves team, ahead to vacation time, or both. “They kicked our butt.”
One would hope the Raptors give their fledgling opponent a little more respect on home turf, where they’ll look to win a third in a row ahead of a marquee showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Was that me looking ahead? No. I would never. That was just a warning of how quickly that kind of thinking can seep in.
Anyway, I won’t go deep into setting the game up, because I already have! Here’s the full game preview, and here’s a quick shoortaround notebook I had for Sportsnet earlier.
Within that notebook is (what I think is) an interesting comparison between the sophomore seasons of Wiggins and DeMar DeRozan. The per-possession numbers are fairly similar in terms of rebounds and assists, an encouraging sign for Wiggins; potential growth as a passer, and Wiggins is already ahead in terms of range and (surprisingly) getting to the line. He also has more potential on the defensive end and just turned 21. DeRozan is an All-Star as is, and if Wiggins’ upside has been “downgraded” (ugh) from superstar to “DeRozan plus defense,” the Wolves are in great shape.
Wolves updates
The Wolves remain without Niikola Pekovic (Achilles…not an injury, he’s literally fighting Achilles right now), Kevin Garnett (old knees), and Nemanja Bjelica (cold, wet feet). Their rotation should look something like this:
PG: Rubio, Jones, Prof. Miller
SG: LaVine, Martin
SF: Wiggins, Prince, Rudez
PF: Dieng, Muhammad
C: Towns, Adreian Payne
It’s unclear if head coach Sam Mitchell will opt to start a Ricky Rubio-Zach LaVine-Wiggins perimeter group like last time out or continuing rotating Tayshaun Prince into the starting lineup in place of LaVine on occasion. The latter is preferable for the Raptors from a defensive perspective but it’s possible that Prince’s length could get in the way of DeRozan, who had an excellent showing last time the two sides met (Prince missed the game for Chauncey Billups’ jersey retirement in Detroit).
Raptors updates
The Raptors, meanwhile, are down just Carroll and Bruno Caboclo, who is on assignment with Raptors 905, giving them a rotation something like this:
PG: Lowry, Joseph, Wright
SG: DeRozan, Ross, Powell
SF: Johnson
PF: Scola, Patterson,Bennett
C: Valanciunas, Biyombo, Nogueira
The Line
The Raptors opened as 9.5-point favorites and remain as such, with nearly 60 percent of the action falling their way. I’m slightly more pessimistic they don’t let the Wolves hang around and keep things close, and the over-under has (correctly, I think) come down from 212.5 to 210.
Raptors 107, Wolves 99.
And hey, if the Raptors can get it done, weird random team history!
.@Raptors: won 16 of their last 19 games. A win tonight would mark 1st time Toronto has won 17 games in a 20-game span (via @EliasSports)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 24, 2016
