ORLANDO, Fla. — The Timberwolves games against Orlando and Detroit will have a lot to say concerning whether the Wolves max out their odds of retaining a top three pick in the upcoming NBA draft or relinquish it to Golden State.
Any suspense over whether the Wolves would remain one game back of Orlando in the standings vanished in the first few minutes of Minnesota's 128-96 win when the Wolves opened a 25-point lead less than 18 minutes into the game.
Hard as it may be to believe for a team playing the lottery, the Wolves just had more talent on the floor than the ragged Magic, which traded its best players at the deadline and is fully engaged in the race to the bottom in a way the Wolves eschewed.
Sunday's game displayed the dynamic which the Wolves are trying to break. Orlando felt like the Wolves have felt at the end of the last two seasons (and in many other years of the franchise's history) — just spinning its wheels with no sense of direction until the season was over.
The Wolves hope Sunday's win was a statement they left those helpless days behind them. They don't have the playoffs in their immediate future, but they don't have what Orlando has, at least.
They might relinquish up to 12.5% odds of retaining a top-three pick with a few wins in the final week of the season.
If that means the Wolves generate positive momentum with the group they have now, that's a trade-off the organization is willing to make. It feels its sorely needed after much of the last 14 months was difficult for the franchise to endure with COVID shutting down last season, missing out on the summer NBA bubble and the development that could come with that.
For once, it was the Wolves who built a ballooning lead against an overwhelmed opponent.
Towns bullied his way against a couple of guys named Mo(e), Bamba and Wagner, while Russell hit four first-half threes.
Orlando shot just 6-for-25 in the first quarter while the Wolves overcame their slow start to lead by 15, 34-19, after one. The Wolves would double that lead by halftime, 74-44, which equaled the largest road lead at halftime the Wolves have ever had. The other 30-point halftime lead came Nov. 9, 2015 in Atlanta. Towns, Russell and Anthony Edwards alone had 51 points to Orlando's 44 by the half. Towns and Russell finished with 27 points while Edwards had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Dwayne Bacon had 18 for Orlando.
Towns had a productive night on what was a hard day for him to play on Mother's Day. Before the game, cameras caught Towns embracing his father, Karl. Sr., who was in attendance.
Towns' mother Jacqueline died last year of complications due to COVID-19 and spent time away from the team to commemorate the anniversary of Jacqueline's death last month.
Towns and the Wolves have rarely had as easy a time scoring points as they did Sunday. Instead of them leaking points in transition, they were capitalizing on a team that couldn't or didn't want to keep up.
Their half-court offense produced good looks nearly every time down the floor, whether the shots went in or not.
The Wolves would've had to try harder than they ever have to lose to this Orlando team to satisfy those that want them to tank. Even as late as a few months ago, they know what it feels like to be in Orlando's shoes. They don't want that feeling to come back anytime soon.
