Wolves

Wolves, Raptors meet again, two weeks later

Kyle Lowry and Toronto get another look at the Wolves after the Raptors lost an 18-point lead and the game to the Wolves two weeks ago.

By Jerry Zgoda

February 24, 2016 at 7:02PM

Kyle Lowry (Brian Stensaas — ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

By golly, Kyle Lowry was right: He and his Toronto Raptors will see the Timberwolves again.

They will do so tonight,in fact, with a 6:30 p.m. Central time game at Air Canada Centre.

Lowry repeated himself at least three times -- "We'll see them again" -- after his team blew an 18-point, first-half lead and lost 117-112 at Target Center in the final game for both teams before a week's All-Star break.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored a career-high 35 points in that one, on a night when Raptors coach Dwane Casey now says his team at halftime headed back home to Toronto for All-Star festivities in their own town.

"They kicked our butt," Casey said at this morning's shootaround in Toronto. "I'd like to use another word but I can't. We played the first half and the second half, we started the All-Star break. We talked about that this morning. They got whatever they got wanted to go. They made passes every position. Our second unit was non-existent.That's what I got from that game. Nothing more, nothing less. We totally got dominated in the second half."

Now the Raptors, Lowry and Casey get another chance.

The Wolves shot 53 free throws in that game, and made 43 of them.

"I just remember how much we put them on the free-throw line, how many second-chance points we gave them," Raptors All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan said. "We can't put on a team on the free-throw line 50-plus times and expect to win the game."

The Wolves again are playing without Nemanja Bjelica (foot strain), Kevin Garnett (sore knee) and NIkola Pekovic, who is out indefinitely while they try to get him feeling right after last April's Achilles tendon surgery.

Wolves young star Andrew Wiggins is back home in Toronto, at Air Canada Centre, for the third time already this season: He made a preseason visit in October and was here recently for All Star weekend.

He celebrated his 21st birthday with family and friends Tuesday night in his hometown.

"I've played here a couple times now so I know how it's going to be," he said. "I was here just last week, a different setting. That was basketball but a lot of entertainment, too."