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Raptors hope to continue dominance over T-wolves

Apr 1, 2015 - 2:06 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - DeMar DeRozan is riding a hot hand from his latest performance and will lead the Toronto Raptors into Wednesday's matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.

DeRozan scored a career-best 42 points on 14-of-27 shooting in Monday's 99-96 win over the Houston Rockets and also tied a career-high with 11 rebounds. He had one steal and one block on the night.

"The most important thing, not only the points, was his defense," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of DeRozan. "I thought his defense and rebounding was as solid as anything else, which made it an all-around excellent game for him."

Jonas Valanciunas chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds, while Lou Williams scored 13 points off the bench for the Raptors, who shot 44.9 percent to win for the fifth time in the last eight tries.

The Raptors went 2-1 on their homestand and will also visit Brooklyn on this upcoming trip. They are 18-17 away from home and have lost five of the previous six road assignments.

Toronto is fourth in the Eastern Conference - one game behind Chicago and three ahead of Washington.

The Timberwolves will resume a three-game homestand and opened the stay with Monday's 104-84 loss to the Utah Jazz.

Zach LaVine scored 21 points, Andrew Wiggins added 17 and Chase Budinger finished with 14 points in defeat, Minnesota's 15th in the last 18 tries.

"We let them just do pretty much what they wanted to do," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said.

Minnesota has lost four in a row at home and is 9-28 as the host this season. It will close the homestand Friday versus Orlando.

The T-wolves dropped a 105-100 decision to the Raptors in Toronto on March 18, as DeRozan posted 21 points and Budinger countered with 19. The Raptors have ripped off seven straight wins over the Wolves and are 19-1 in the past 20 matchups between the teams.