Improving Timberwolves dominate Magic
10 May 2021, 12:05 GMT+10
Karl-Anthony Towns and D Angelo Russell each had 27 points to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 128-96 blowout win over the host Orlando Magic on Sunday night.
The Timberwolves (21-47) snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 7-5 over their past 12 games. The Magic (21-47) dropped their third in a row in their home finale and went 11-25 in Orlando this season.
Minnesota had won just one of its previous 12 games in Orlando.
It was an emotional Mother s Day victory for Towns, Minnesota s two-time All-Star, who lost his mother to COVID-19 last year.
Towns, who also had nine rebounds and four assists, helped jump-start the Timberwolves as they used an early run to overwhelm the Magic and outscore them 74-44 by halftime. Russell also had eight assists and six rebounds.
The Lead
The first meeting between the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves this season ended in dramatic fashion when Cole Anthony drilled a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. The second and final meeting, which took place on Sunday in the Magic s final home game of the year, was a blowout. The Timberwolves, behind their Big Three of Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards, cruised to a 128-96 victory.
Top Performer
Dwayne Bacon, the only Magic player this year who has appeared in every game, posted 18 points, three rebounds and two assists. The 6-foot-6, 221-pounder signed with Orlando last fall largely because of his comfort playing for Steve Clifford, his coach during his rookie campaign in Charlotte. That turned out to be a great decision, as the four-year pro is averaging career highs in points and rebounds.
Game Preview #68: Timberwolves at Magic
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When: 7:00pm CST
What To Watch For
Would ya look at this heavyweight matchup? Both of these teams find themselves well out of the playoff race but have not played like teams looking ahead to their first offseason round of golf. That’s not what you would expect from two teams with fewer combined wins than seven NBA teams.
Get your mouse ears ready.
Wolves at Magic
While neither team has been great or even good, they have not been embarrassing either. The Magic won just three games in all of April but have gone 2-2 so far in May. Okay, those April wins were against Chicago, New Orleans, and Cleveland. But they did beat the Grizzlies on May 1 one night after losing to Memphis 92-75.
Jerome Lane – Dec. 1989
Jackson is the only player on that list to extend the streak to four games, so Bamba has the chance tonight to join even more elite company.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “She taught me discipline. She taught me (about) being respectful. When it comes to the off-the-court things, just being a good person all around. I feel like she played a huge role in that. She played basketball, but it was bigger than basketball for her, if I can say that. She just wanted to make sure I was a good person no matter if I made it to the NBA or if I stopped playing in college. No matter what happened, she wanted to make sure that people liked me because of who I am, not because of what I do. That’s her big thing and that’s definitely taken me a long way. Just being a great people person, being respectful, and just being nice.” – Wendell Carter Jr. reflecting on Mother’s Day on the impact his mom had on his development.
Orlando; Sunday, 7 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota aims to stop its three-game losing streak with a win against Orlando.
The Magic have gone 11-24 in home games. Orlando is last in the Eastern Conference scoring 41.6 points per game in the paint.
The Timberwolves have gone 8-26 away from home. Minnesota is 7-19 when committing more turnovers than opponents and averages 14.4 turnovers per game.
The teams square off for the second time this season. The Magic won the last matchup 97-96 on Jan. 20. Nikola Vucevic scored 28 points to help lead Orlando to the win.
TOP PERFORMERS: Mohamed Bamba is second on the Magic with 5.8 rebounds and averages 8 points. Dwayne Bacon is averaging 15.2 points and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 41.7% over the last 10 games for Orlando.