ORLANDO, Fla. _ When they have lost this season, the Timberwolves have done so often by blowing big leads and suffering through lousy third-quarter that doomed them.
When they have won, they've done it up big.
Granted, they've won just twice now after the Wolves beat Orlando 123-107 Wednesday on a night Zach LaVine matched a career scoring high with a 37-point game that included a career-best seven 3-pointers made.
They hadn't won in nine days, not since they walloped 116-80 a Memphis team that didn't play Marc Gasol or Mike Conley that night.
On Wednesday, the Wolves led by as many as 30 points before the Magic pulled within as few as 11 points with 5{ minutes left.
But just when it appeared as if the Wolves would give another big lead _ as they have with 13-, 17- and 18-point lead so far this season _ they answered, pushing their lead back to as many as 21 in the final 80 seconds.
LaVine's 3-point shot from the right wing was the Wolves' 12th of the night and it pushed their lead back to 114-96.
Karl-Anthony Towns followed by taking Gorgui Dieng's interior pass and converting it for a dunk and a 112-96 lead.
When LaVine then made one of two free throws, the Wolves led 113-96 with 3:46 remaining.
Andrew Wiggins added 29 for the Wolves one night after he scored 36 points in a loss at Brooklyn and Towns scored 20.
The Wolves led 34-14 by late in the first quarter and scored 39 by quarter's end on a night when they also 74-47 at halftime and still led by 20 points with fewer than nine minutes remaining.
The 3-5 Magic now have lost consecutive games in blowouts after they had won three consecutively before that.
The Wolves now are 2-5 after winning for the first time since beating a short-handed Memphis team by 36 points at Target Center nine days earlier.
The Wolves now have scored at least 60 points in the first half five times this season. No other NBA team has done it more than three times.
The Wolves' 39 first-quarter points were their highest scoring quarter of the season.
Their 74 first-half points tied the second-highest scoring first half in Wolves history.
They scored 77 in the first half at Golden State on April 1, 1995, when Wolves guard Isiah Rider scored 42 points back home in the Bay Area.
The Wolves reached double digits in 3-pointers in the third quarter. That was the first time since March 2014 they had made 10 or more 3-point shots in back-to-back games.
