DeMar DeRozan has now played in more Toronto Raptors' victories than anyone, including a bevy at home recently.
The Raptors will seek to match the longest single-season home winning streak in franchise history Wednesday night by adding to the Minnesota Timberwolves' woes in Toronto and on the road in general.
DeRozan played in his 233rd victory in his seventh season with the Raptors in a 122-95 rout in New York on Monday. He scored 22 points to tie for team high with Kyle Lowry, who also had 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double this season.
DeRozan broke a tie with Chris Bosh and Morris Peterson to become the team's winningest player.
"It sounds good saying it, honestly," DeRozan said. "I mean, it's an honor for me, man. I've been here, it felt like since the beginning, and just to have that, that's big."
He could help Toronto (37-18) make more history this week. The Raptors have won eight consecutive home games and haven't had a longer streak in one season since a franchise-record run of nine straight March 7-April 4, 1999. They won 10 in a row across the 2001-02 and 2002-03 campaigns.
It would seem they are getting the ideal opponent. Minnesota (18-39) has lost 13 of 14 on the road and 11 straight in Toronto, currently its longest road losing streak versus any opponent. The Timberwolves are 3-17 there all-time.
The Raptors, however, blew an 18-point lead and lost 117-112 in Minnesota on Feb. 10 despite DeRozan matching a season high with 35 points.
Toronto native Andrew Wiggins had 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter in the comeback win and has totaled 51 in the past two matchups. Wiggins, regularly cheered in the recent Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star weekend in Toronto, scored 15 in his only previous regular-season game in his hometown March 18. He's averaging 23.0 in eight contests this month.
Rookie Karl-Anthony Towns had a career-high 35 points against the Raptors and scored 28 in a 124-122 victory over Boston on Monday, when the Timberwolves nearly blew a 10-point lead in the final 75 seconds.
"It's great to have a 'W,' but for me personally I'm just not happy with the way we played at the end," Towns said. "That's us, especially me. We've got to do a better job."
Towns has averaged 23.8 points and 12.7 rebounds in the last six games. All but one of those was at home, however, and he is averaging 14.0 points in three road games this month.
Ricky Rubio is averaging 6.7 points on 28.0 percent shooting in his last seven road games.
The Timberwolves might need to keep leaning on Towns as they'll have a depleted frontcourt for their three-game road trip.
Nikola Pekovic remains out indefinitely as he continues to deal with discomfort from Achilles surgery in April, which has limited him to 12 games. Reserve forward Nemanja Bjelica has a strain in his right foot and is not expected to return until next month at the earliest. Kevin Garnett is doubtful for Wednesday's game because of a sore right knee that's kept him out since Jan. 23.
The Raptors are relatively healthy, aside from DeMarre Carroll's knee injury, as they enter a stretch in which they'll play nine of 10 at home.
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