There have been so many bumps along the road nearly midway through this Timberwolves’ campaign that any casual onlooker may assume Minnesota was dead and buried by now.
Many of Minnesota’s performances have been clunky. Anthony Edwards has been up and down, as has Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and, frankly, everyone in the lineup. There has rarely been a synergy established within various lineups, the team often struggles to score 110 points and fans have complained about how unenjoyable the team is to watch.
And even with all of that — most of which is entirely valid — Minnesota is now again three games north of .500 after drubbing the short-handed Magic 104-89 on Thursday in Orlando.
The Wolves are tied for the No. 7 seed in the West and are just a 1 1/2 games back of the No. 4 seed in the conference, and the home-court advantage in the first round that would come with it.
Are the Timberwolves perfect? Far from it. But the same is true of most of the teams in the conference. And at least Minnesota has something it can generally hang its hat on over the second half of the season in its defense.
After holding New Orleans to 97 points on Tuesday, Minnesota put the clamps on Orlando two days later.
The Magic (22-17) are far from full strength at the moment. They’re currently without their three best players in Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and St. Paul product Jalen Suggs. Banchero is set to return Friday against Milwaukee. Orlando certainly looks as though it could use the boost.
Minnesota held the Magic to 38% shooting, including 25% from distance, while committing 16 turnovers. No Orlando player scored more than 15 points.
“Our defense is what’s been winning us games,” Randle said in his postgame television interview. “Once our defense is clicking, it’s kind of a carryover for our offense, too.
Minnesota gave the ball away just 10 times and attempted 31 free throws.
Randle led the Wolves with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Gobert also had a double-double. Naz Reid added 16 points off the bench. Edwards hit three 3pointers in the first quarter as he again served as the ignition to Minnesota’s opening act.
He cooled off considerably from there, as did the team. Minnesota shot just 40% from the field for the evening. But the Wolves never relinquished control of the contest.
Orlando went on a mini run early in the second half to pull within five points with just under eight minutes to play in the third, which induced a timeout from the Wolves. But the Magic scored just 25 points over the next 18 minutes of action as the Wolves pulled away and set the car in cruise control.
“The times we had some little lapses, I thought we corrected quickly. This was a tough little trip. … We’ve been talking about how important this part of our schedule is. Guys are really kind of locked in and have the right approach right now. I think that’s evident in a performance like tonight,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters. “We know that they’re super depleted, but you’ve got to take advantage of these opportunities when you get them in the League.”
Minnesota next hosts Memphis on Saturday, another chance for the Wolves to continue to reel in a team ahead of it in the conference standings.
“Right now, we’re talking about stacking (wins) up,” Finch said, “and seeing what we can do going forward here.”
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