
Raptors 112, Timberwolves 97
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Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Chris Bosh had nine points and seven rebounds in his first preseason game and Andrea Bargnani led Toronto with 21 points as the Raptors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-97 on Friday night.
Bosh was 4 for 8 from the field in 11 minutes in the first half after being sidelined all of training camp with a strained hamstring. Three of his four baskets came on drives, and he added a 3-pointer in the first quarter. He even drew a double technical for jawing with
Ryan Hollins after a scrum in the paint.
"It's a start," Bosh said. "Sunday will be a really good measuring stick, just to see how fast my body's going to react to this whole thing. And hopefully I'll be able to go five minutes without getting tired."
Toronto will host Washington on Sunday. Raptors coach Jay Triano said before Friday's game he planned to limit Bosh to the first half against the Wolves.
"Sometimes your first game back you're rusty and you look lethargic out there, but he looked like he had bounce," Triano said. "He looked good until he fatigued."
Corey Brewer led Minnesota with 16 points while
Al Jefferson and rookie
Jonny Flynn each had 14 as new coach
Kurt Rambis gave the home crowd its first look at his rebuilt roster.
Jefferson, who missed the final 32 games of last season with a torn ACL, has scored 28 points in nearly 34 minutes this preseason. Aside from Jefferson's efficiency, though, the Wolves showed they have plenty of rough spots to work out.
Rambis bemoaned the way his team started and finished the game.
"We're going to be outmatched a lot of the nights, but we shouldn't be where our effort hurts us," he said.
Minnesota went 6 for 21 from the field in the first quarter while Toronto took a 23-6 lead and was never seriously threatened.
"We took a step backwards, especially being on our home court and losing like that," forward
Ryan Gomes said. "We did fight back a little bit, but still, you look at the start of the game, that was the difference."
DeMar DeRozan,
Sonny Weems,
Reggie Evans and
Marco Belinelli all scored 11 points for the Raptors, who led by as many as 23.
The Raptors played their third game without offseason addition
Hedo Turkoglu, who has been resting after going to the NBA finals with Orlando in June and playing for Turkey's national team in late summer.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press