MINNEAPOLIS _ The news came down about an hour before game time. No Jimmy Butler Saturday night. No Jamal Crawford.
No problem.
Without Butler and Crawford, with center Karl-Anthony Towns limited by foul trouble to zero points and one rebound in the first half, the Wolves beat the Toronto Raptors, 115-109. The Wolves trailed by 11 in the first half. Up 10 in the fourth, the Wolves allowed the Raptors to retake the lead with an 11-0 run.
But, ultimately, the Wolves (30-18) got it done, winning their ninth straight home game.
Towns finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Andrew Wiggins had 29 points and five rebounds.
Marcus Georges-Hunt scored 12 points, including four free throws down the stretch.
It was enough to offset a great night by Toronto guard Kyle Lowry (40 points). DeMar DeRozan had 20 for Toronto (31-14).
After ending the third quarter on a 12-3 run, the Wolves entered the fourth quarter with a four-point lead.
That lead was pushed to 100-92 on Tyus Jones' 3-pointer with 7:47 left. Out of a time out Wiggins was fouled and made both free throws for a 10-point lead with 7:10 left.
It did not last.
Fueled by a flurry of Wolves turnovers, Toronto responded with an 11-0 over the next 3:16 run to take a 103-102 lead with 3:54 left on Lowry's 16-footer.
Three-pointers by Wiggins and Towns put the Wolves up four with 1:43 left before Lowry hit two free throws with 1:23 left. Hunt hit one of two free throws with 1:07 left for a three-point led.
Lowry missed at the other end, and Wiggins grabbed the rebound. Seconds later, Wiggins's offensive rebound set up Hunt for two free throws with 24.8 seconds left to seal the victory.
At the start the absence of Butler could be seen on the defensive end. In the first quarter the Raptors shot 12 for 19, had nine assists on those 12 made shots and made half their eight three-pointers.
But they only led by two, thanks to Wiggins.
Wiggins made six of eight shots with a rebound and an assist for 14 of the Wolves' 26 first-quarter points. With the Wolves up a point, the Raptors got five points from DeRozan in a 15-7 run to take a 25-17 lead with 3:13 left in the quarter. But out of a timeout, the Wolves finished the quarter on a 9-3 run _ with Wiggins scoring twice and dishing off an assist _ to pull within 28-26 entering the second quarter.
Wiggins scored another eight points in the second quarter and the Wolves shot 50 percent and scored 28 points.
But their deficit grew. It didn't help that Towns was limited to eight minutes and zero shot attempts in the first half.
By the time the halftime horn had sounded, Toronto had a 21-3 edge on 3-point scoring, had turned five offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points and led 62-54, with Lowry and DeRozan combining for 31 points.
Towns returned with a vengeance to start the second half. He had 10 points _ including a 3-pointer and seven free throws _ in a 16-6 run the Wolves used to take a 70-68 lead.
The Wolves weren't done. Gibson's two free throws with 5:40 left in the quarter pushed the Wolves' run to 21-8, giving them a 75-70 lead.
For at least a few moments. Because Lowry responded with eight points _ two three-pointers and two free throws _ in a 10-0 run that put the Raptors up five.
But the Wolves responded with a 12-3 run to end the quarter, including Gorgui Dieng's banked-home 3 at the buzzer, that put the Wolves up 87-83 entering the fourth.
Marcus Georges-Hunt scored six points in the stretch, including a three-pointer that put the Wolves up 84-80. Towns scored 12 points with six rebounds in nine minutes in the quarter.
