The Timberwolves trailed by 11 points early in the fourth quarter and trotted out a lineup of Mike Conley, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo. And away they went. The second unit played a stretch of beautiful basketball that got Minnesota back on track, sparking a 17-1 run t hat ultimately was the difference in the Timberwolves’ 118-111 home victory. Minnesota has now won seven straight games. This one may have come the hardest. Two days after a nationally-televised dismantling of Denver that returned the Wolves to the A topic on basketball shows across the country, Minnesota struggled mightily with a Magic team that’s been, well, struggling. But on a night where it was briefly stuck in the mud, Minnesota managed to pull itself through for another win. Takeaways from Minnesota’s win over Orlando Movement-based lineup turns tide Orlando plays a physical brand of defense that can grind an offense down when the ball stops. That’s what happened to the Wolves in the third quarter. Minnesota scored just three points over the final five minutes of a third quarter in which it turned the ball over six times. Julius Randle turned the ball over twice in the frame, while Anthony Edwards went 2 for 6 from the field. So Timberwolves coach Chris Finch trotted out a similar version to a lineup that inspired ball movement for Minnesota earlier in the season. Those five players move without the ball as a natural habit. They got Orlando’s defense shifting and, thus, less able to contain Minnesota. That unit’s play inspired a quarter in which Minnesota scored 40 points to rally past Orlando, and ultimately slam the door late. “We tried to keep trying to kind of go into the teeth of it, and we needed to kind of get our minds back right and embrace it, figure out how to bring our own physicality to the game and just respond. That’s what the game was,” Finch said. “We knew it was a physical team, and we were not very physical or playing with a lot of force in the third. But we did to start the fourth.” McDaniels and DiVincenzo are tone setters DiVincenzo joked recently that he’s “a rim protector,” but he backed up the assertion Friday with a rejection of an Orlando drive attempt. Those types of players are becoming far more frequent for the guard since he returned from the toe injury that cost him six weeks. His hustle plays, along with McDaniels’ defensive scrappiness and general physicality on both ends of the floor are quickly becoming hallmarks of this Wolves team. In his postgame, on-court interview, Edwards called the two wings the “MVPs” of the game. The same could be true of this entire winning streak. Rudy Gobert was also rather important The center dominated the glass against Orlando, finishing with 12 rebounds to go with 12 points. Four of those boards came on the offensive end. He had four second-chance points himself. That was the type of on-the-glass dominance Gobert exerted plenty in past seasons but has been more inconsistent this season. But Gobert was there when Minnesota needed him Friday. “He was really a force, rolling hard, make multiple efforts on the glass, played strong,” Finch said. “He forced them to foul him, and he finished well.” Edwards seals the deal Edwards was one of the chief instigators of the third quarter struggles, but he was brilliant in the closing minutes. First, Edwards hit an open triple. On the next trip down, he scored against a walled-up defender at the rim to put Minnesota back up five. That bucket seemed to have his coach most pleased. “It’s his elite talent and athleticism coming through,” Finch said. “But the good thing is he went downhill. We’ve been on him to get downhill more in those situations, and he did a good job.” Edwards took a bit of a heat check on the ensuing possession, pulling up from deep in transition for a triple try that bounced off the iron. But Randle, who powered Minnesota’s first-half offensive explosion, came sprinting in for the putback slam to send Orlando to a timeout and Target Center to its feet. Edwards finished with 28 points. But, most importantly, he delivered late in a tight game in a manner that was repeatable. As someone who has struggled in clutch-time situations, sometimes dooming his team because of it, the more Edwards can deliver in such spots down the stretch run of the regular season, the more confidence he and his teammates will have in their ability to dig out tight games come playoff time. 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