Minnesota Timberwolves (2-0) beat Orlando Magic (0-2) 115-93 on the road on Friday, October 23. The final margin was 22 points.
When it got away
The Timberwolves broke it open in the third quarter, winning that quarter 29-15. Their lead was 26 at that break, and it stayed in double digits at every break after.
Why it was lopsided
The Timberwolves recovered 37.5% of their own misses against 17% for the Magic and the Timberwolves gave the ball away on 11.7% of their possessions while the Magic did so 15.9% of the time. Extra possessions add up quickly over 48 minutes.
The game played at about 101 possessions per team. The Timberwolves scored 113.5 points per 100 possessions and the Magic scored 91.8, a difference of 21.7.
The Timberwolves' reserves also made a difference, outscoring the opposing bench 46-22.
Who stood out
Wendell Carter Jr. (ORL) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (18.9): 20 pts, 9 reb, 1 ast on 8-9 shooting. The team was -6 in the minutes Wendell played.
For the Timberwolves, Ayo Dosunmu was the best of the rest at 16.9: 14 pts, 6 reb, 9 ast on 6-11 shooting.
Game Score is a single number that weighs points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers. It is not an official stat, just a quick way to rank lines.
What it means
The pre-game Win Meter had it close to a coin flip, at about 41% for the Timberwolves.
Across the last 4 meetings in our records, the series is even.
The Timberwolves are now 2-0, and the Magic are 0-2. The Timberwolves last five before this game: L-W-L-L-W.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.