MINNEAPOLIS _ After letting a late nine-point lead turn into a two-point deficit with 50 seconds left, Andrew Wiggins forced overtime with a 21-foot jumper with 10 seconds left in regulation, then scored six points in the Wolves' 8-2 run to start the overtime _ throwing in a nice block on the defensive end for good measure _ to lead the Wolves to a 111-105 victory Monday at Target Center.
Nemanja Bjelica blocked C.J. Watson's shot to open OT, then he set up Karl-Anthony Towns for a layup. After an Orlando turnover, Wiggins scored off a bounce pass from Towns. Wiggins hit two free throws with 3:46 left, then scored again to make it 106-100.
This time the lead held up.
Wiggins finished with 27 points. Towns had 23 and 12 rebounds. Ricky Rubio, who hit a career-high six 3-pointers, had 22 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. The Wolves won their second straight and fourth in five games. All five Orlando starters were in double figures, led by Elfrid Payton's 21 points. Watson had 18 and Serge Ibaka had 17.
In a back-and-forth game, Rubio hit a 3-pointer with 4:43 left to put the Wolves up 94-85.
And then, collapse. Going cold and getting loose with the ball, the Wolves were outscored 13-2, with Watson's three-point play with 50 seconds left giving Orlando a 98-96 lead.
After a slow start, with the Wolves down 7-4, Minnesota went on a 12-2 run _ Towns had five points and Wiggins four in a 12-2 run that put the Wolves up 16-9 on LaVine's corner 3-pointer.
But with Ibaka heating up _ he scored all 10 of his first-quarter points in the final 4 minutes of the period _ the Wolves couldn't shake the Magic, who got as close as a point before Wiggins' turnaround put Minnesota up three entering the second.
That Wiggins basket at the end of the first was the beginning of a 10-0 run, accomplished mainly by the Wolves bench, that put Minnesota up 34-23 on Cole Aldrich's cut to the basket early in the second quarter.
But the Wolves couldn't shake Orlando, which inched itself back to within five, 46-41. Then the Magic tied the game at 46 on Watson's three-point play with 1:24 left in the half, then again at 49 on Payton's 3-pointer. After Gorgui Dieng hit a corner 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds, Payton hit a 17-footer to make it 52-52 Wolves at the half.
The Magic scored the first seven points of the third quarter, forcing Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau to call a timeout 93 seconds into the quarter with his team down six.
The Wolves spent the rest of the quarter trying to fight back. A 5-0 run out of the time out got them within a point, but they couldn't get any closer.
At least for a while.
Down six midway through the quarter after Jeff Green's three-point play, the Wolves got two free throws from Towns and consecutive 3-pointers from Rubio in an 8-2 run that tied the game at 70 with 3:38 left. Two Wiggins free throws with 2:11 left tied it at 75. Orlando scored straight. But then Towns hit two free throws with 26 seconds left.
Then, rebounding an Orlando miss, Shabazz Muhammad rebounded the ball, dribbled past midcourt, and drained a halfcourt three to put the Wolves up 80-79 entering the fourth.
