TORONTO - When it comes to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Toronto Raptors always seem to find a way to win.
Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani scored 26 points apiece to lead the Raptors to 118-110 victory Tuesday for their 10th consecutive win over the T'Wolves.
Anthony Parker added 24 points for Toronto (23-36), which beat Minnesota with a balanced offensive onslaught. Six Raptors scored in double figures with Jose Calderon adding 15 points and 13 assists, Jason Kapono finishing with 11 points and Shawn Marion scoring 10 points and adding eight rebounds.
Randy Foye had 25 points to top the T'Wolves (18-38), who suffered their eighth loss in their last nine outings. Ryan Gomes added 23 points.
The Raptors were coming off one of their highest scoring games in nearly a month, beating the New York Knicks 111-100 on Sunday. But they stumbled through an ugly first quarter and fell behind by as much as 16 points early in the second, prompting boos from the Air Canada Centre crowd.
The Raptors, in their last appearance at the ACC before departing for three games out west, came to life in the second quarter, outscoring their visitors 27-19 and finally grabbing the lead early in the third. Toronto took an 84-82 advantage into the fourth.
The T'Wolves remained within striking distance until the final few minutes, trailing by just three points with just over three minutes to play. But a stretch of plays that started with a putback basket by Parker, and ended with a Parker three-pointer -- with a big block by Bosh on a shot by Mike Miller in between -- put Toronto up by 10 points and the game out of reach with 1:49 left.
Bosh was playing in his third contest after missing five with a knee injury, and this was definitely his best. Still, Raptors coach Jay Triano cautioned it may be awhile before Bosh gets his game legs back.
"Fifteen, 17 days off, you can't expect to out and play 100 per cent in a basketball game and sprint up and down the floor," Triano said before the game. "We're trying to keep his minutes short, get him a rest and get him right back in, until he can get that endurance back up to where he's Chris Bosh.
"We told him, don't worry about scoring, don't worry about any of the finesse plays, just do the effort things, run the floor, play good defence and rebound the basketball. All that other stuff, the touch and that, that will all, come when he gets in better shape."
The Raptors came out flat against a hot-shooting T'Wolves team, and fell behind by 12 points on a three-pointer by Foye less than seven minutes into the game. Minnesota would stretch its advantage to 14 points on 60 per cent shooting before ending the quarter up 37-25.
The Timberwolves took a 16-point lead midway through the second but found another gear, going on a 17-2 run to pull within a point two minutes before halftime. The T'Wolves were up 56-52 at the break.
The Raptors finally took their first lead since early in the game two-and-a-half minutes into the third when Parker stole the ball off Telfair and finished with a driving finger roll. The Raptors stretched their lead to six points before taking an 84-82 lead into the fourth.
NOTES: Bosh and Brian Cardinal both picked up technical fouls after a bit of shoving in the second . . . Joey Graham left the game in the third with a right hamstring strain. . . The Timberwolves have not won in Toronto since a 108-97 victory Jan. 21, 2004. . . . Toronto's ninth win over the Timberwolves was a 110-102 victory Feb. 10 in Minnesota. . . Toronto's longest streak of victories against one opponent was 16 wins over the Chicago Bulls from 1999 to 2002. . . The Raptors are at Phoenix on Friday and visit Dallas and Houston before returning home to host the Miami Heat on March 6.
