The Toronto Raptors will face one of the hottest teams in the NBA on the second night of a back-to-back.
Didn’t the Toronto Raptors just play last night? Yes, they did, and they play again tonight — and it’s not even the final back to back of the season.
After losing 128-111 to the LA Lakers in Toronto on Tuesday night, the Raptors hopped on a plane and headed to Minnesota. They’ll face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, a team who is fighting for the top spot in the Western Conference standings with a record of 52-23, just half a game behind the Nuggets in first place.
Safe to say, the Timberwolves will be motivated to win this game. Also yes, that lead picture was the only one I could find with both someone in a Minnesota jersey and someone who is currently employed by the Raptors. Scottie Barnes is not playing in the game.
The Raptors, on the other hand, are on the brink of losing their 15th consecutive game, and haven’t won a game since March 3rd. They are currently teetering on the sixth best draft odds, and the difference between sixth and seventh in the lottery determines if they even get the pick or not.
As for injuries, the Raptors will be missing their now-usual list of players, plus RJ Barrett who will rest after returning to play yesterday, and Kelly Olynyk who will out to rest. Bruce Brown is doubtful with knee soreness as well.
As for the Timberwolves, Mike Conley will be out due to rest, while Karl-Anthony Towns is still out with his knee injury and Jaylen Clark will be out as well.
So overall, Minnesota is definitely more healthy than Toronto. Add in that Toronto is still missing most of their core, and possibly tanking for their pick and... well you can see where I am going with this.
Fans may be excited to Immanuel Quickley back leading the offence. He made his comeback along with RJ Barrett against LA last night. While last night’s offence looked a little disjointed (I mean, they haven’t played together in weeks), it is nice to have a real point guard back in the lineup.
There’s also the fun of seeing Anthony Edwards play, as he’s been performing extremely well all season long.
Whatever reason you are tuning in for, keep in mind that the Raptors are looking for glimmers of hope for next season and beyond in all these young players.
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Game Info:
How to Watch: 8:00pm ET on Sportsnet
Lineups:
Toronto: Immanuel Quickley, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Gary Trent Jr., Gradey Dick, Jordan Nwora (maybe? who knows who will get the fifth starting spot)
Minnesota: Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, Anthony Edwards, Jordan McLaughlin
Injuries:
Toronto: Scottie Barnes (Out — hand), Jakob Poeltl (out — hand), RJ Barrett (Out — injury management), Kelly Olynyk (Out — rest), Chris Boucher (Out — knee), DJ Carton (Out — ankle), Bruce Brown (doubtful - knee), Ochai Agbaji (Out - knee), Jontay Porter (Out — personal)
Minnesota: Mike Conley (Out - rest), Karl-Anthony Towns (Out — knee), Jaylen Clark (Out — achillis)
