The Orlando Magic rout the Minnesota Timberwolves to win by 42 points in a lopsided match
The Minnesota Timberwolves succumbed to their 15th straight road loss, as Orlando Magic launched a first half assault to breeze past them in front of a jubilant 18,846 strong crowd at the Amway Centre. After being humbled
by Miami Heat in their last encounter, Magic had a point to prove and they did that in an emphatic fashion routing the Timberwolves by a whopping margin of 42 points to not only send them 1-4 down in the season, but, on their way, handing them the most humiliating
defeat in the franchise’s history.
Orlando, with two of their last four matches postponed, came into the match with all guns blazing. Minnesota led 10-6 four minutes into the first quarter when Ryan Anderson slammed in three consecutive 3-pointers within a span
of 56 seconds to give The Magic the lead, one which they never relinquished throughout the match. Anderson’s burst really spurred The Magic on as they completely overpowered the Timberwolves’ defence to send them reeling at 37-18 at the end of the first quarter.
Magic cast a spell on the struggling Timberwolves and continued their momentum into the second quarter as well. Orlando bust open an already imposing lead within the first five minutes of the second period as they sprinted to an
18-2 run to quash all hopes of a Timberwolves comeback. The teams went into the locker rooms with Orlando Magic sitting pretty on a 33-point lead at 78-45.
The Magic continued to turn the heat on their opponents in the second half. The Timberwolves, stunned by a belligerent first half scoring spree, failed to cope with the offensive prowess of Orlando Magic. The faltering Minnesota
team, though, managed to bring some sanity into the game as they only got outscored by 9 points in the second half to finish the match at 128-86.
Orlando Magic had an excellent round game with seven players featuring in double figures. In the process, they also surpassed their franchise record of most points in the first half. They broke the record of 75 points, set against
Sacramento on Jan 13, 2009. Orlando shot at 50 percent, with 56 boards and 27 assists and also slipped in 15 3-pointers in the match. Dwight Howard led his team on the individual front with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Vince Carter also chipped in with 20 points
and 7 assists while Ryan Anderson and Brendon Brass also scored 19 points each to complete a 42-point mauling of their opponents.
In the absence of Michael Beasley, who suffered a hip injury during a 34 point loss to Miami, Kevin Love was the lone man fighting for the Timberwolves and he finished with 22 points and 9 boards. Corey Brewer was the only other
player in double figures for the Minnesota team as they shot 28-for-84 at a paltry 33.3 percent.
Orlando pulled off a magical performance to rout the Timberwolves in a contest which proved to be a mismatch. The Magic, who are one of the best teams of the eastern conference, brutally exposed the lack of depth and talent in
perhaps one of the worst teams in the league. A subdued Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis, whose team has lost two matches on consecutive nights in Florida by a collective margin of 74 points, will be hoping that the worst is behind his team. He summed his team’s
display by saying: “These are hard lessons for a young team to learn. They didn't play well offensively and do the right things, and we clearly didn't do the right things defensively either.”
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