Russell scores 22 in debut, Wolves fall 137-126 in Toronto

OG Anunoby scored a career-high 25 points and matched his career high with 12 rebounds, Kyle Lowry had 27 points and 11 assists, and the Toronto Raptors extended their franchise-record winning streak to 15 by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 137-126 on Monday night.

Pascal Siakam scored 14 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had a season-high 21 and Fred VanVleet added 16 as the Raptors won their 16th straight home meeting with Minnesota.

Lowry returned after missing Saturday’s win over Brooklyn because of whiplash, but center Serge Ibaka sat because of flu-like symptoms. Hollis-Jefferson started for Ibaka.

D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points in his Minnesota debut and Karl-Anthony Towns had 23 points and 10 rebound,s but the Timberwolves couldn’t build on Saturday’s surprise victory over the Clippers that snapped a 13-game losing streak.

Russell sat out Saturday because of a right quad contusion.

Jarrett Culver, Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez scored 15 apiece for the Timberwolves, who have lost five straight against Toronto.

Minnesota had a season-worst 23 turnovers, leading to 34 points for Toronto. The Raptors committed 20 turnovers, four shy of their season-worst total. The Timberwolves scored 26 points off Toronto miscues.

Minnesota trailed 106-94 through three quarters but former Raptor James Johnson made two 3-pointers as the Timberwolves opened the fourth with a 12-2 run, cutting it to 108-106 with 9:07 left.

That was as close as Minnesota would get. Chris Boucher and Siakam scored to push Toronto’s lead back to six points, and VanVleet and Patrick McCaw hit 3-pointers on either side of Towns’ free throw to make it 120-109 with 5:28 remaining.

Toronto connected on eight straight field goals to begin the game before Hollis-Jefferson missed a hook shot with 8:03 left in the opening quarter. Lowry scored 14 points in the first and Siakam shot 4 for 4 and scored 10 points as the Raptors led 40-36.

Minnesota took its first lead of the game on a layup by Hernangomez with 6:24 left in the second quarter. The Timberwolves led 75-74 at halftime.

Anunoby scored 16 points in the third on 6-of-7 shooting, but the basket of the quarter came in the final seconds when VanVleet threw a no-look, overhead pass to Hollis-Jefferson for a fast-break dunk. Toronto outscored Minnesota 32-19 in the third to take a 106-94 lead to the fourth.

TIP-INS

Timberwolves: Towns had a team-high seven assists … Minnesota shot 5 for 15 in the third quarter. … The Timberwolves outscored the Raptors 42-14 in bench points.

Raptors: This was the first 20-point, 10-rebound game of Anunoby’s career. … Toronto had seven turnovers in the first quarter, as many as it made in all of Saturday’s win over Brooklyn.

UP NEXT

Timberwolves: Host Charlotte on Wednesday.

Raptors: Visit Brooklyn on Wednesday.