Timberwolves at Magic
The steady hand of Ricky Rubio at point guard was all the Minnesota Timberwolves needed to snap a four-game slide. The Timberwolves will try to earn back-to-back wins and sweep through Florida when they visit the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
Rubio sat out four games with a hamstring injury and went 1-of-7 from the floor in 27 minutes in his return on Tuesday but only turned the ball over once as Minnesota improved to 5-2 with the Spaniard in the lineup. Rubio, 25, counts as a veteran presence on a young Timberwolves squad and entered a tie game in the fourth quarter on Tuesday before playing the rest of the way in a 103-91 win at Miami. The Magic are winners of four of six and five of eight since a slow start but have been off since a 108-99 loss at Washington on Saturday. “We've shown flashes that we can be a great team," Orlando forward Tobias Harris told reporters. "But we have to be consistent to take the next step as a team."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Florida (Orlando)
ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (5-6): Rubio’s presence allows second-year guards Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins to play off the ball at the end of games, and the two combined for 16 points in the final 4:37 on Tuesday as Minnesota exploded for 41 fourth-quarter points. LaVine totaled 12 of his 17 points off the bench in that fourth quarter and is averaging 22.7 points over the last three games. The win improved the Timberwolves to 5-1 on the road against an 0-5 mark at home.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (5-6): Orlando used its three-day layoff to search for some reasons as to why the team is having trouble finding consistency from game-to-game and quarter-to-quarter. “When we’re playing good, solid defense and we’re doing the detail-oriented things on offense like running the floor hard, setting screens, concentrating on our spacing and not dribbling too much, we look like a good club,” Magic coach Scott Skiles told reporters. “And then there are parts of the game where we stop doing both and then we look like a terrible club.” Orlando was outscored 58-43 in the second half of Saturday’s loss.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Magic have taken three straight in the series and 11 of 13.
2. Minnesota rookie C Karl-Anthony Towns recorded his seventh double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds on Tuesday.
3. Orlando G Victor Oladipo (concussion) missed the last two games and is questionable to return on Wednesday.