Minnesota Timberwolves (17-40) at Orlando Magic (26-32)

6:00 pm CST

Fox Sports North

Happy Friday! As you celebrate the end of another long work week, the Minnesota Timberwolves are celebrating the end of a 4-game road trip that included plenty of points scored, extra plenty of points given up, and one key defensive stand on the South Beach battlefield against the man known as General Soreness.

The victory in Miami, which marked only the 2nd time in the last 20 games that Minnesota was on the correct side of a box score, allowed many associated with the franchise to finally let their hair down and celebrate a bit. After shocking the Heat on their home floor, the Wolves appeared to have discovered a new “apple juice” that apparently is more enjoyable at sunset than sun rise, Gersson Rosas flamed the haters on Twitter, and all of that was capped off with a financial slap on the wrist from the NBA:

$25,000 to a franchise worth north of a billion is essentially like demanding a nickle from your friend, but nevertheless the Wolves were indeed punished for their “approach” to player health and safety. D’Angelo Russell did indeed miss practice leading up to the game against the Nuggets, so it wasn’t all that shocking that D-LO ended up missing the game, but with that matchup on NBATV and the league’s desire to curtail stars sitting out national TV games, it all makes sense. Whatever — less apple juice money for when the Wolves celebrate their next victory in three weeks.

As for tonight’s opponent — the Orlando Magic currently sit at 26-32, which is good enough for 8th place in the surprisingly feisty Eastern Conference. Outside of Jonathan Isaac (knee) and Al-Farouq Aminu (knee), the Magic enter Friday night’s contest fairly healthy, with guys like Markelle Fultz, Aaron Gordon, and Mo Bamba playing some of the better basketball of their career. The Magic will throw a ton of size at the Wolves tonight, but as cult hero Jordan McLaughlin has shown recently, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but rather the size of the fight in the dog.”

Projected Starting Lineups

Minnesota Timberwolves

PG: D’Angelo Russell
SG: Malik Beasley
SF: Josh Okogie
PF: Juancho Hernangomez
C: Naz Reid

Orlando Magic

PG: Markelle Fultz
SG: Evan Fournier (#NeverGoogle)
SF: James Ennis III
PF: Aaron Gordon
C: Nikola Vucevic

As for the Wolves injury report: