The Minnesota Timberwolves saw their five-game win streak snapped on Saturday, with the Orlando Magic blowing them out 119-92 at Target Center. The Timberwolves were looking to win six in a row for the first time this season, but lost in embarrassing fashion instead. It was in the second quarter that this game got away from them, and Anthony Edwards was asked postgame what went wrong in the period.
“I don’t know,” Edwards said. “I don’t know, Chris man, I wish I had an answer for you. I do got an answer, but I don’t want to say it.”
That is quite interesting. Edwards is biting his tongue, but he is also making it clear that he knows what the issues were. He could be talking about the Timberwolves attempting zero free throws in the second quarter, compared to 11 for the Magic. We can’t say for sure, though.
The Timberwolves actually led 30-27 after the first quarter, and a layup from Rudy Gobert put them up 48-41 with 5:50 left in the second. All appeared well at that point, but then the wheels fell off.
The Magic went on a 16-0 run to completely flip the script, as that Timberwolves offense collapsed. They would only score two points in the rest of the quarter after that Gobert layup and trailed 60-50 at the break.
The Timberwolves ended up scoring just 20 points on 9-26 (34.6%) shooting from the field in the second. As for the biggest culprits there, Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, and Ayo Dosunmu combined to go 0-10 from the field. You can’t be too hard on their 24-year-0ld superstar, though.
It was Edwards’ 17-point explosion in the first quarter that helped the Timberwolves get ahead. The four-time All-Star then tried to drag his team back in the game in the third quarter with 14 points in the period, but the Magic withstood the onslaught and then dominated in the fourth.
The Timberwolves were outscored 29-14 in the final period and ended up losing this one by 27 points. This was the fifth time this season that they had lost a game by 20 or more points, and two of them have now come in the last two weeks. They were previously hammered 135-108 by the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 22. It certainly isn’t ideal to suffer two 27-point losses at home in such a short span.
That said, those are the only two losses the Timberwolves have suffered in their last 10 games. This is quite an interesting team, to say the least.
Edwards would end this night with 34 points (8-18 FG), three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. He was pretty much the only Timberwolves player who could hold his head high after this one.
This was not the first time this season that the Timberwolves suffered a lopsided loss in an afternoon game, with this one tipping off at 3 p.m. ET. Edwards was asked if this was just a coincidence or a trend.
“I think we got a trend of not being ready to play at 2:00 or 1:00,” Edwards stated. “But I think we did good in Denver, and then you know we just came out flat tonight.”
The Timberwolves did beat the Denver Nuggets 117-108 on Sunday, but had been crushed 115-96 by the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 8 in their last afternoon game before that one. They’ll be facing the Oklahoma City Thunder in their next afternoon game on March 15, and they’d better be prepared for that one.
The Timberwolves dropped to 40-24 with this loss to the Magic and will take on the Los Angeles Lakers next at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET.
