TORONTO — RJ Barrett of Mississauga, Ont., had 31 points and seven rebounds as the Raptors stunned the Minnesota Timberwolves 110-105 on Thursday for Toronto's first consecutive wins of the season.
Scottie Barnes, wearing protective goggles with red frames, returned to the Raptors (4-12) lineup for the first time since he fractured his right orbital bone on Oct. 28.
Barnes finished with 17 points, six assists, and three rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
Jakob Poeltl had a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards and Montreal's Chris Boucher came off the bench for 22 points.
Anthony Edwards scored 26 points, including 11 in the third quarter, to keep Minnesota (8-7) in the game.
Julius Randle had 23 points and nine rebounds, while Jaden McDaniels scored 22 points and also pulled down seven boards.
Barnes was injured in the fourth quarter of Toronto's 127-125 overtime loss to the Nuggets when he caught an errant elbow from Denver centre Nikola Jokic. Barnes was expected to be out at least three weeks with the injury but came back slightly ahead of schedule.
Rookie combo guard Ja'kobe Walter (sprained right shoulder) was also made available for the Raptors. He did not play in the game, however.
Toronto wore its new City Edition jerseys for the first time. The black jerseys feature a bright red Raptor in the midst of a between-the-legs jam, like Vince Carter's iconic move from the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Takeaways
Minnesota: Edwards got off to an uncharacteristically slow start to the game, scoring only five points in the first half and quickly getting up to four personal fouls. Despite being so close to foulling out of the game, Edwards became more aggressive and helped the Timberwolves take a lead in the third quarter.
Toronto: Although Barnes is unquestionably the best player on the Raptors, his re-integration into the lineup wasn't seamless with Toronto's offence looking disjointed for long stretches with 17 turnovers. Poeltl's usage dropped significantly with Barnes once again becoming the focal point of the offence.
Key moment
Boucher's dunk with 6:38 left in the game sparked a 17-4 Raptors run that erased a two-point deficit and gave Toronto a 105-96 lead with 2:31 on the clock. Gradey Dick's defensive rebound and lob to Barrett for a crowd-pleasing dunk put an exclamation mark on that run, with the 19,296 fans at Scotiabank Arena rising to their feet as Barrett flexed and shouted. Minnesota called a timeout to try and kill Toronto's momentum after the highlight-reel play.
Key stat
Toronto shot an excellent 51.4 per cent on field goals, but didn't get up as many attempts as the Timberwolves, who outscored the Raptors despite shooting 41.3 per cent from the floor.
Up next
The Raptors travel to Cleveland to take on the NBA-best Cavaliers.
Minnesota continues its Eastern Conference road trip with a stop in Boston against the NBA champion Celtics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press