TORONTO - The victories at the Air Canada Centre keep coming for the Toronto Raptors.
DeMar DeRozan poured in 31 points to lift the Raptors to a 114-105 victory over Minnnesota on Wednesday, tying the franchise record with their ninth consecutive win at home.
Kyle Lowry added 21 points, while Cory Joseph had 18 points off the bench. Jonas Valanciunas chipped in with 14 points and seven rebounds for Toronto (38-18).
Andrew Wiggins, the reigning NBA rookie of the year from Vaughan, Ont., led the T'Wolves (18-40) with 26 points, while Gorgui Dieng added 21.
The last time the Raptors had won nine in a row at home was way back in 1999 (March 7- April 4).
The Timberwolves seemed like they were ripe for the picking, having lost their previous 13 of 14 games on the road, and 11 straight in Toronto. They had won just three of their 20 games in Toronto.
The last time these teams met, however, in their last game before the NBA all-star break, the Raptors coughed up an 18-point lead en route to a 117-112 loss.
The Raptors were looking for payback, and led by as many as many 12 points in the first half, but couldn't shake the young T'Wolves.
The game got heated in the second half, and when Terrence Ross was called for an offensive foul on Tyus Jones, his angry reaction earned him two technical fouls and he was ejected from the game with 1:48 to play in the third. The Raptors went into the fourth quarter with a slim 87-86 lead.
The Raptors put together a nine-point lead in the fourth, but the T'Wolves chipped away at it, and a put-back dunk by reigning NBA slam dunk champion Zack LaVine tied the game with 3:48 to play. But Toronto's all-stars Lowry and DeRozan drilled consecutive three-pointers, putting the Raptors ahead 107-101 with just under two minutes to play.
Lowry and DeRozan would sink another pair of threes in the final minute to seal the deal for Toronto, and send the capacity crowd of 19,800 fans home happy.
Wiggins, who had celebrated his 21st birthday with family and friends in Toronto on Tuesday, scored Minnesota's first five points as the T'Wolves raced out to a nine-point lead. The Raptors ended the first quarter on a 27-9 run to take a 37-28 lead into the second.
Toronto stretched its lead to 12 points early in the third, but the Timberwolves responded and a stepback jumper by Wiggins tied it up at 58-58 with just under a minute to go before halftime. Joseph hit a three with seven seconds on the clock to send the Raptors into the dressing room at halftime up 61-58.
Minnesota opened the third with a 9-0 run to take a six-point lead, but the Raptors tied it up on a dunk by Bismack Biyombo with 5:41 to play in the quarter.
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