Brandon Ingram scored 29 points, Scottie Barnes added 24 and the Toronto Raptors beat the slumping Milwaukee Bucks 111-105 on Thursday night.The Bucks have lost 12 of their last 15. They will be away from home for 11 of their next 14 contests, including five straight starting Sunday. Bobby Portis scored 24 points, Kevin Porter Jr. 22 and Myles Turner 21 for Milwaukee. Porter also had 13 assists and seven turnovers, while Portis had 12 rebounds. After trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Bucks pulled ahead 59-57 on Portis’ 3-pointer with 10:46 left in the third quarter. Toronto pulled back ahead 48 seconds later when Barnes hit a driving layup, drew a foul and converted the Raptors’ first free-throw attempt of the night to complete a 3-point play. The Bucks take on the Timberwolves on Sunday.
Kevin Garnett will finally have his No. 21 formally retired by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves announced on Thursday they’ve hired the Hall of Fame member and franchise icon as a team ambassador, with a plan to honor Garnett in a jersey-raising ceremony at Target Center on a future date.The fifth pick in the 1995 draft, who played the first 12 of his 21 seasons in the NBA for Minnesota before returning in 2015 for a farewell year. The native of South Carolina, who finished high school in Chicago and trailblazed his way directly to the NBA draft, remains the all-time Timberwolves leader in points, rebounds, steals, blocks, games and minutes. He won the NBA MVP award in 2004, helped the team make the playoffs eight straight times (1997-2004) for the longest streak in franchise history and earned 10 of his 15 career All-Star selections with Minnesota.
Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy each had a goal and two assists, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 on Thursday night for their sixth straight win. Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Hartman and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for Minnesota. Yakov Trenin had two assists and Jesper Wallstedt stopped 27 shots. The Wild have allowed just nine goals during their win streak, giving up no more than two goals in any game with one shutout.
Eriksson Ek put the Wild ahead 3-2 with 8:10 remaining, jamming at the puck on the left side after Greaves stopped his initial attempt. The Wild host Edmonton on Saturday