Magic-Timberwolves Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN

(AP) -- The Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves are last-place teams with the season winding down.

Both, however, still appear motivated to finish the season off right and will try to snap losing streaks Friday night at Target Center.

Orlando (22-53) enters the weekend last in the Southeast Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference after dropping 10 of 11, including its last four by double digits. The Magic fell behind by as many as 25 in Wednesday's 103-91 defeat to San Antonio.

"That's not who we are and who we want to be," interim coach James Borrego told the team's official website. "We have to be the more aggressive team, the younger team, the more athletic team. The team flying around. There were spurts of that, but as a whole we didn't get that done."

Victor Oladipo had 24 points to lead all scorers while Tobias Harris added 18. Oladipo is averaging 21.5 points in 15 games since the beginning of March.

"We've got to go in and compete every night and give ourselves a chance to win every game," Oladipo said. "We've got to finish strong. If we really care about our future and really care about getting better and growing, we'll do just that."

The Timberwolves (16-59) reside in the West's basement with seven games to go. They're coming off their fifth consecutive loss and 16th in 19 games, 113-99 to Toronto on Wednesday.

"We'll never forget this," Rookie of the Year candidate Andrew Wiggins said. "As we grow and get older as a team we'll never forget this season. It's motivation for us to try to beat the teams that beat us this year."

Wiggins had 25 points, fellow rookie Zach LaVine added 22 and Chase Budinger scored 19 off the bench as all three players saw at least 36 minutes. Wiggins has averaged 23.7 points and over 42 minutes in the last six games with several key pieces out, including Gorgui Dieng (concussion), Kevin Garnett (knee), Kevin Martin (hamstring) and Ricky Rubio (ankle).

"As he's gotten more minutes and he's gotten more tired I thought that he would start to settle," coach Flip Saunders said of Wiggins. "It's actually been the contrary. He's one of the top guys in the league as far as getting shots in the restricted area and really attacking the rim."

LaVine has also played well of late with 18.4 points per game in the last eight.

The Timberwolves are 2-10 against the Magic since 2008-09, but the victories came in Orlando's last two trips to Minneapolis. Minnesota dropped this season's first meeting 112-103 in overtime Nov. 7 as Wiggins scored six points.

Wiggins leads all first-year players with 16.3 points per game, and Orlando's Elfrid Payton is first among rookies with an average of 6.3 assists, including 9.2 over the last nine games. Payton has averaged 14.8 points in that span, up from his season mark of 8.9.

Orlando has been outscored by an average of 10.5 points during a 12-game road skid.