Minnesota and Orlando tip off at 7:00 p.m. at Target Center tonight, but before we get going, you can listen to Wolves forward Al Jefferson talking about Dwight Howard and the Magic:

CLICK HERE to listen to Al Jefferson.

After speaking to Jefferson, I was hoping to talk with Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing, now an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic. Sure enough, Ewing was on the court at 5:00 helping some of the Magic players with shooting drills. After he came over to speak to Wolves assistant Ed Pinckney, Ewing sat down with me courtside:

HALL OF FAMER Patrick Ewing


Before we get started, I want to take a look at the +/- category. Some people like this stat, some don't (I do). Leading the way after two games is Ryan Gomes (+10). That simply means that when Gomes has been on the floor, Minnesota has outscored opponents by 10. Also in the positive are Sebastian Telfair (+4), Theo Ratliff (+3) and Al Jefferson (+3), which tells us that Minnesota's starters have outplayed opponents, if marginally, on the scoreboard.

First Quarter
- After shootaround, head coach Randy Wittman told us he thought Theo Ratliff would play. Well, he's not playing, due to the flu. Unfortunate, too, because Dwight Howard is going to be tough to deal with tonight for Jefferson (starting at the five), Gomes (starting at the four) and Craig Smith off the bench. So, the starters are: Telfair, McCants, Greg Buckner, Gomes and Jefferson. Wittman's going small to counter a Magic squad that starts $110 million man Rashard Lewis at the four. He's joined by Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Keith Bogans and Carlos Arroyo, who gets the nod over Jameer Nelson.

- Al Jefferson hit his first shot with about nine minutes remaining, and hoops from McCants (two) and Buckner made it 13-4 Wolves. This is the third-straight great start for Minnesota in three games.

- Minnesota responded to a 5-0 Magic run with two quick buckets to push it back to 17-9, courtesy of a McCants J (eight points) and a Buckner reverse layup on the fastbreak. However, the Magic started to pound the Wolves in the paint en route to a 20-19 lead, and Wittman brought veterans Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker off the bench with 3:45 left to try and change the soapy, pillow-like culture of things in the lane.

- League Leaders update: Jefferson ranks 10th in the NBA with 12.5 boards a game. Marcus Camby is on top with a ridiculous 19.0 average in three games, while Howard is 8th at 13.3. Telfair is 20th in assists with 6.0 a night, and Allen Iverson is on top at 10.0. Tracy McGrady has the scoring lead at 33.0 a night, while Greg Buckner is 11th in swipes (2.50). Theo Ratliff is on the blocks chart at 2.5 a night, good for 13th. One other note: Ray Allen (first), Paul Pierce (fourth) and Kevin Garnett (ninth) are logging some heavy minutes in Boston.

- With about 1:15 left in the first, McCants got tripped up driving into the lane, grimaced fiercely as he stood up, and walked towards the locker room under his own power. We'll have to wait and see what trainer Greg Farnum tells us on this one.

Second Quarter
- Corey Brewer has nailed two threes from the corner to put Minnesota up 30-28. That's his shot, and it's nice to see the kid getting looks from his spot. In the preseason game at Milwaukee in which he had 27 points, he knocked down some early looks and got into a comfort zone.

- Injury report: McCants is doubtful to return with a sprained ankle. That's unfortunate, but I'm actually relieved it's just a sprain and has nothing to do with his now-100 percent knee.

- Five straight Buckner points give Minnesota a 39-35 edge here, but the Wolves are going to need to get some more touches for Jefferson on the low block if they're going to stay in the game. Stan Van Gundy, Orlando's coach, knows that Minnesota wants to feed Big Al (well, everyone knows that), and the Magic are doing a good job of denying him the ball. No Ron Jeremy jokes here, let's leave those for Bill Simmons. SVG is sort of intimidating to speak with. Meanwhile, offensively, Orlando is bombing away from three, hitting 5-of-13 through 19 minutes of action.

- Touching ceremony honoring Minnesota's military heroes just now, with Wolves president Chris Wright joining two soldiers returned from Iraq for a mid-court presentation. Nice standing ovation from the fans here at Target Center...

- A good play call from Wittman got Craig Smith isolated on the low block against the smaller Rashard Lewis, and Rhino responded with an and-one (though he missed the free throw). Jefferson brought Howard out of the lane and Lewis was screwed.

- WOW STAT: Marko Jaric has seven assists in 12 minutes of action. His season high last year was nine, against Phoenix on March 20. Intern Jude just told me Jaric has one assist in 24 minutes in Minnesota's first two games.

- Ratliff's absence has been notable tonight, especially when you look at Howard's stats through a 51-45 Magic lead: 14 points and nine rebounds. Status quo for the rest of the half, with Orlando heading in up six, 56-50.

Third Quarter:
- Both teams shot well in the first half: 52.6 percent for Orlando, 53.8 for the Wolves. Orlando had a 21-16 edge on the glass, while Minnesota had 15 assists to the Magic's 11. Buckner led the way with 12 points, while Jaric's eight assists jump off the box score. But once again, the biggest statistical differential is Orlando's shooting 17 free throws to Minnesota's eight. I'm going to start bribing refs before the game with cool things like Skittles, Mountain Dew and Cheez-Its.

- I think it's time for Jefferson to get into the box score more notably before fantasy owners start to get concerned. Two points and two boards in the first minute and change work, but let's get our double-double on a.s.a.p.

- Puerto Rico's own Arroyo has been solid tonight from the perimeter, making 6-of-9 for 13 points, including a pull-up J on Telfair to make it 71-61.

- Here's the season debut for Chris Richard, who has the tall task of checking Howard in his first NBA action out of UF. I bet Howard would have been a decent college player, although he would definitely have gotten pushed around and been forced to shoot threes.

- Biggest lead of the night comes at 5:30 as Lewis hits his fourth three. 76-62 Magic. But, a nice looping leaner from Telfair and Rhino's patented "O-roll" is punctuated by a Richard swat of Turkoglu. Speaking of Hedo ... He's from Turkey, and while the players were lined up as Howard shot free throws, I overheard Turkoglu explaining to Richard that Ankara, not Istanbul, is the capital of his home country. Sure, it used to be Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, but not anymore. Richard countered by letting Hedo know that Germany's working class is primarily Turkish. Oh wait, that conversation didn't happen. But it would have been good for an "Inside the NBA" segment.

- Just noticed former Wolf Dean Garrett chilling in the first row behind the Lexus seats. Good thing he has leg room.

- These last few minutes have been sluggish. So let's play the college game, by seeing which conference is best represented by the guys on the floor. For us, Smith and Gomes are Big East, while Richard is SEC. Jaric and Telfair n/a. Turkoglu/Howard are n/a for Orlando, while Arroyo went to Florida International (whatever conference that is doesn't count in this survey), Keyon Dooling went to Missouri (Big 12) and Pat Garrity to Notre Dame (Big East basketball). Big East wins. OK, that wasn't very fun.

- 84-70 Orlando with 1:15 to go in the third quarter thanks to Howard's 26th point. Toss in 13 boards, and he's running the show, particularly with Jefferson on the bench this whole quarter with four fouls.

- Apologies for not mentioning this earlier, but Jameer Nelson is in street clothes tonight, I believe with a minor injury. Let's blame intern Jude for deleting the line as I mentioned it in the first quarter.

- Intern Jude didn't actually do that, but I still write "Hey Jude" every time I email him. It's 88-74 Magic after three. Minnesota has clearly missed McCants' scoring from the two-guard spot, and Jefferson's abilities on the low block. Furthermore, with Ratliff out of the lineup and Foye still hurt, the combinations of Wolves we've seen have barely played together even in the preseason. You can't expect too much more than effort when going against a Magic team that is completely intact, but it still sucks. Boo. Hiss.

Fourth Quarter:
- Big Pimpin' is one of the best rap songs ever. When Jay-Z, Bun B and Pimp C's joint started blaring from the loudspeakers, Jefferson scored consecutive buckets. UGK (Underground Kingz) being from the dirty south and all, like Al, means this is not a coincidence. 92-82.

- The Wolves are struggling to get the ball inside to Jefferson, but when he's gotten touches, he's scored. Al's 4-for-5 this quarter and now has 21 points, cutting the lead to 92-86. This mini-run (six straight AJ points) has the crowd back into the game.

- Comeback alert: After Al's assault, Jaric drew a chart and canned a J. The Wolves then cleared a board on Howard's miss with AJ contesting, and Corey Brewer flew in for a put-back of Jefferson's miss to make it 90-92. That's at least 10-straight points for the Wolves here with 6:11 remaining and a lot of positives after what was a brutal third quarter.

- Nice ball rotation from Orlando got Lewis an open look at three, and he drained it, but Brewer found Buckner for an immediate answer from long distance at the other end. Suck alert: Freaking Lewis just canned another three, plus the foul, but missed the gimme. 98-93. The answer came from Jefferson this time ... He's been outstanding this quarter, as if he told himself, "Dude, there's no way Dwight's playing me like this." But seriously, it's almost as if Jefferson decided he was going to stop messing around, and just go hard at Howard. The first three quarters, he was a bit indecisive, perhaps because Orlando wasn't bringing the double-team he's growing used to. Fortunately, he's done messing around.

- OUCH. Another Lewis bomb. According to Sega or Super Nintendo standards, he's officially on-fire. (Insert Marv Albert's voice): "From dooowwwnntown ... He's on FIRE!" That's 27 points now for Lewis, nine in the quarter. 103-95.

- Jaric got his 10th assist (surpassing last season's high) and just scored again with a difficult, hanging leaner (seven points). He followed that up by draining a three, and is now all over the freaking court on defense. If the Wolves defensive side of the floor were a world map, Marko just went from Canada, to Australia, to Singapore, to Guyana and ended up under the hoop in Antarctica. Unfortunately, Howard drew a questionable foul and hit both shots to make it 106-100.

- Ultimately, the three bombs from Lewis spelled doom for Minnesota, the third time in three nights that veteran players (Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Jamal Crawford) simply made plays late. With the motley crew lineups Wittman was forced into playing due to Ratliff's absence and McCants' injury, it was really impressive that Minnesota was able to cut a 16-points deficit to two at 92-90.

- Final score: 111-103. Jefferson finished with 25 points and 10 boards, Jaric with 10 points, 10 assists and five boards, and Craig Smith 13 points in 15 minutes. We'll see you next time.