The Minnesota Timberwolves suffered their 10th loss in the past 11 games, blowing a 20-point lead and falling victim to a buzzer-beater from Cole Anthony in a 97-96 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
The Timberwolves opened the game with a sloppy first quarter, but had a tremendous highlight courtesy of Anthony Edwards. The rookie had a rim-rattling dunk that gave the Wolves energy despite being down 25-21 after one.
DID YA'LL FEEL THAT AT HOME?!?! pic.twitter.com/D8p8zBd4Er
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 21, 2021
The Timberwolves turned it on in the second quarter, unleashing a 27-3 run to help them take control of the game. The charge was led by D’Angelo Russell, who poured in 15 of his 19 points including going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.
4-4 behind the arc?
nICE. ❄️ pic.twitter.com/NyDmT0AZqb
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 21, 2021
While Russell filled it up from the outside, the Wolves enjoyed the emergence of young players in their frontcourt without Karl-Anthony Towns and Juancho Hernangomez.
Jaden McDaniels took advantage of the opportunity, providing quality minutes off the bench and a slam to send the Wolves into the locker room with a 51-35 lead at halftime.
JADEN.
MCDANIELS.
!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/No5lvvRjGL
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 21, 2021
McDaniels continued his strong play in the second half, posting 12 points and eight rebounds on the night.
.@Jmcdaniels7 is BALLIN'. pic.twitter.com/f7s0yjl7WI
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) January 21, 2021
Despite McDaniels’ efforts, the Magic whittled the Wolves’ lead down to two points late in the fourth quarter. Although Minnesota dodged a bullet with Aaron Gordon missing a wide-open three, Jared Vanderbilt missed a pair of free throws that would have put the game away.
The Magic took advantage of their second life as Anthony launched a three-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Wolves a shocking defeat.
https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1352095316338761731
The Timberwolves improved to 3-10 on the season with the win and will host Atlanta on Friday night.
