Raptors fall 89-87 to the Timberwolves in Ottawa

In what's surely going to be the least discussed Toronto sporting event on Wednesday's calendar, the Raptors took their preseason tour on the road to Ottawa Wednesday but fell 89-87 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in front of a packed house at the Canadian Tire Centre.

While the Blue Jays celebrated their first postseason series victory since 1993 back in Toronto, the Raps failed to capitalize on a strong first half and faded down the stretch by allowing the young Wolves to score at will on a lineup that seemingly mailed it in in the third quarter. The Dinos, who were up 54-43 at halftime and led by as many as 15 at one point, saw that lead cut to 77-75 at the seven minute mark of the fourth quarter before a back-and-forth stretch ensued in the remaining minutes of the final frame.

With 20 seconds left and the scoreboard reading 85-82 in favour of Minnesota, Bruno Caboclo inbounded a routine pass to Patrick Patterson but the Kentucky product let it bounce right off his fingertips and sail out of bounds. There weren't any last second heroics to be had, however, as Patterson's last second three-pointer wasn't enough to even up the score.

Rookie point guard Delon Wright and James Johnson led the Raptors in scoring at 11 points apiece thanks to a pair of strong efforts off the bench. Anthony Bennett continued his solid preseason by leading the Raps in boards (8) and steals (3) while looking comfortable and confident on both ends of the floor. Promising young big man Gorgui Dieng paved the way for the T-Wolves by finishing with a game-high 14 points on six-for-nine shooting.

Fresh off a record setting 40 point performance against Minny on Monday, red-hot point guard Kyle Lowry received a well deserved breather on the sideline. Meanwhile, for the second time in as many games, Bruno Caboclo effectively blocked 2015 No. 1 pick Karl-Anthony Towns. What a time to be alive.

Toronto now sits at 3-2 in the preseason and has two remaining games on tap against the Cleveland Cavaliers (Oct. 18) and the Washington Wizards (Oct. 23) before the games really start to matter.

What did you think of the game? How is your post-Blue Jays celebration hangover treating you at work? Let us know in the comments.