Somehow the entire Timberwolves team forgot to hit the resin bag before entering the game. With 19 team turnovers, the Timberwolves showed the wear and tear of back-to-back games on a young and inexperienced squad. From those turnovers, the Raptors managed to open up a huge lead despite being destroyed in the field goal percentage for the first half. Even more surprising is that a Raptors squad shooting only 14% from beyond the arc managed to total more than a hundred points and get a 22-point margin of victory.

So, a well rested Raptors squad managed to show us some wrinkles. Andrea Bargnani was pretty ugly from beyond the three point arc, and his help defense was a little suspect as he doubled down on Jefferson without sealing him. However, he managed to get rebounds in traffic, as well as go perfect from inside the arc.

Jamario Moon found a new way to do something defensive by drawing his first charge, and with the Timberwolves being weak on the interior, Moon found some open lanes to the basket.

Chris Bosh continued to be productive and efficient from all over the floor by being aggressive and getting to the line. However, he also kept turning the ball over on his drives.

Finally, it was interesting to watch Primoz Brezec hit the floor again, as he basically is becoming a Serbian Junk Yard Dog most of the time, with his animated expressions and hard work on the glass. When he came into the game, it seemed as though the second unit began switching a little more efficiently, and at least for another game against a weak team he managed to leave some decent work on the court at the end of the day. On one particular play, he managed to block out three Timberwolves to get the rebound, which was amusing on its own.

There were some promising signs for the Timberwolves. For one, Randy Foye on offense gave the Timberwolves a suitable counterpunch and second option should a team be able to shut down Al Jefferson. Jefferson, on the other hand, got into the gut of the Raptors’ defense and created havoc by being an unstoppable force. In many ways, Jefferson’s game is reminiscent of Dwight Howard’s game in that he can be such an influential force, and yet disappear at times due to his unselfishness and lack of defense.

Perhaps it was the long flight from Utah to play the tail end of the back-to-back, but the Timberwolves were guilty of playing “Prayer Defense”, in which they left it up to the Raptors and their own shooting percentages in order to win. If the Raptors missed a shot, it was seldom because of tight defense, rather because a particular player wasn’t hitting for the night. Unfortunately, it’s just not something that gets fixed overnight, and certainly not on a young team that has little basketball IQ and plays porous defense. In many ways, the Timberwolves continue to remind me of the Raptors a couple years ago, except without the executive direction, nor the solid team chemistry.

It’s not surprising then, that the Raptors dominated the Timberwolves from the second quarter onward. At home, the Raptors have started to take care of the ball and are finally showing themselves as a dominant force at home. There is, of course, the odd hiccup, but at the same time, there’s no denying the average margin of victory of 23 points over the last seven home victories. It’s also true that outside of Orlando and the Lakers, the Raptors have not had to face a real playoff contender for almost a month.

With a few more games left before the difficult March begins, the Raptors have to maintain what they’ve built, which is a team that prides itself on ball movement, is prone to playing some defense at key moments and can shoot the lights out on any given night as long as they have the proper floor generals on the floor.

Next Game: Indiana @ Toronto