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TORONTO - With seven seconds remaining, the game all but wrapped up and moments after draining the biggest shot of the night, Kyle Lowry stepped to the line. Milwaukee Bucks Jerseys . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Even Lowry, in the midst of a career and possible All-Star year, laughed it off. "If I win the MVP youll see pigs fly," he joked after leading his team to a bounce-back 94-89 victory over the Timberwolves Friday. Lowry connected on a season-best six three-point shots, none bigger than the one he hit from the corner with just under 15 seconds left to give the Raptors a seven-point lead and put the Wolves comeback hopes to rest. He wont be lifting an MVP trophy anytime soon - though he did ascend to 10th on NBA.coms "Race to the MVP Ladder" this week - but he is well on his way to representing the Raptors in New Orleans for next months All-Star Game. In nine games this month, the eighth-year vet is averaging 17.8 points and 8.0 assists while shooting a remarkable 52 per cent from long range. "Hes playing at a high level," Dwane Casey said. "This is the highest level hes played, the best I think hes played. I dont think hed tell you that." Casey was right, he wouldnt. "I feel good," Lowry responded, asked if hes playing his best basketball, also citing a productive half-season stretch he had with the Rockets in 2011-12. "Hes a tough competitor, plays hard all the time," said Rick Adelman, current Wolves bench boss and Lowrys former coach in Houston. "Hes jumped around to different situations but he was really good for us in Houston and it looks like hes playing that way now." Adelman, who Lowry called his favourite coach, gave the Philadelphia-native his first shot to start and play big minutes in the NBA. In Lowrys final season as a Rocket - with Kevin McHale replacing Adelman on Houstons bench - he appeared to be on the verge of a breakout. He averaged 15.6 points and 7.6 assists prior to the All-Star break and before a mysterious bacterial infection derailed the rest of his season. The Wolves coach said he never had a doubt that Lowry would get back to and even eclipse that level but still, many questioned whether he could be a positive leader at the point guard position. "Hes grown into that role of being a leader, hes matured as a man," Casey said. "Hes doing all the right things and those were the only question marks with Kyle as far as the other coaches are concerned." Lowry credits his personal success to his off-court growth as well as the work he put in during this past offseason. "Im just growing up," the 27-year-old said. "Ive got a son, a wife, a family, its one of those things where you just hit that moment and its just like, youve got to grow up sometime. This summer was a big summer for me. I got a chance to really work as hard as I wanted to and I got a chance to relax my mind and clear it and it seems to be working." With Rudy Gay - his best friend - in Sacramento, Lowry has finally found a balance between utilizing his ability as a scorer and facilitating a productive offence, also excelling on defence and leading the NBA in charges taken (he drew his 24th early in Fridays game). But more than anything else, its his leadership that continues to turn heads, rightfully so. "I didnt do nothing," Lowry said, asked about the teams performance against Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic, one of the toughest frontcourt duos in the league. "The big fellas did a great job tonight, they redeemed themselves. JV, Amir, Chuck, Patt, those guys played huge tonight and all I can do is treat them to lunch one of these days on the road." Lowry, like the rest of the team, recognized the importance of this game following one of their most disappointing efforts of the season in Boston on Wednesday. "We definitely wanted to redeem ourselves after that Boston game," said Amir Johnson, who added 19 points and held Love to 16 on 7-of-19 shooting. "We made it a goal to get stops, get every rebound and we did that tonight." The Raptors allowed an opponent season-high 19 offensive boards in Boston and appeared to be headed for another long night against the one of the NBAs topped ranked rebounding teams. Minnesota grabbed 10 off the offensive glass in the first half but was held to just two the rest of the way as Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas battled Love and Pekovic, keeping them both in check. "We had a bounce-back as a team from the other night," Casey said. We were disappointed that we were ambushed in Boston." "[It was] just a bounce back game for us and we needed it," Lowry echoed. "Tonight we did a great job of bouncing back against a team thats really good, I mean theyre a talented team, well coached. We did a good job of executing our game plan, they made it close but we pulled it out." Glenn Robinson Bucks Jersey . This week, they discuss the NCAAs revenue sharing, Don Zimmer, soccer language and Super Bowl 50. D. J. Wilson Jersey . Ben Street scored twice for the Heat (17-5-1), who won their fourth game in a row and 13th in their last 14 outings. Brett Bulmer scored the lone goal for the Wild (6-11-0), who dropped their sixth straight contest. http://www.nbabucksproshop.com/Customized/ . -- Mississippi State was crushed twice by Florida last season, once by 35 points and the other by 25.SOCHI, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened the Winter Paralympics in Sochi against the backdrop of his countrys military action in Crimea. During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. The appearance of the flagbearer, biathlete Mykhaylo Tkachenko, drew a roar from the crowd. The Ukrainian team only announced earlier in thhe day that it would not boycott the games, but said it could pull out if the Crimea situation escalates. Oscar Robertson Jersey. A lavish ceremony based on the mythical firebird of Russian folklore marked the start of the 11th Winter Paralympics, a 10-day event featuring 547 athletes from 45 countries. Putin stood at a microphone in front of a capacity crowd at the Fisht Olympic Stadium and announced: "I declare open the Winter Paralympic Games 2014, Sochi." ' ' '