Anthony Edwards went 5-for-23 Friday night, and Minnesota still left Orlando with a 115-93 victory. The Magic made one of the Timberwolves’ leading scorers labor for nearly every basket, then lost the more basic argument beneath the rim.
Joan Beringer had seven offensive rebounds in 14:42. Minnesota collected 22 offensive boards to Orlando’s eight and finished with a 61-43 advantage overall. A forced miss is valuable, but it is not the end of a defensive possession. Orlando repeatedly handled the first job and failed at the second often enough to turn an ugly shooting night by Edwards into a comfortable Timberwolves win.
Beringer’s first-quarter work supplied a neat example. At 3:32, Edwards missed a driving floater and Beringer grabbed the offensive rebound. Beringer then missed a tip shot, which Orlando recovered. A few moments later, at 3:05, Jaden McDaniels missed a 4-foot attempt, Beringer secured the offensive rebound and made the tip shot. One sequence ended without damage; the other converted Minnesota’s second chance into two points.
The pattern continued as the game tilted away from Orlando. At 6:24 of the third quarter, Edwards missed a 26-foot pull-up, McDaniels collected the offensive rebound and Edwards missed again on a driving layup. Wendell Carter Jr. secured that second miss, but Minnesota had already extended the possession and made Orlando defend through another attempt.
At 3:05, Edwards missed again, Trey Lyles grabbed the offensive rebound and Minnesota drew a foul.
Those plays do not identify one culprit, and the box score cannot assign every missed box-out to a particular Magic player. They do show why rebounding is a team responsibility. The Timberwolves put themselves in position to retrieve misses, while Orlando’s initial resistance too often required another stop before the possession actually ended.
Minnesota led 57-45 at halftime, then scored 29 points in the third quarter while Orlando managed 15. The margin reached 26, and the meaningful contest was over well before the reserves trimmed it. Edwards still scored 15 points, while McDaniels added 15 and Ayo Dosunmu finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and ten assists.
Minnesota’s 14-for-37 shooting from 3-point range also gave its extra possessions a useful partner.
Orlando had a real offensive counterargument, beginning with Carter. He scored 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting, made three of four 3-pointers and collected nine rebounds. The Magic scored 54 points in the paint, eight more than Minnesota, and Carter’s 24-footer with 9:13 remaining in the fourth quarter cut the deficit to 19.
His night was not decorative production; he was one of the few reliable sources of offense in a game that otherwise became lopsided.
