A mere coincidence? Or a sign of things to come?

In their first game since Bo Outlaw was traded the Phoenix Suns, the Orlando Magic were outrebounded 55-32 by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Since Outlaw was seldom a scoring machine during his years with the Magic, it's doubtful he could have helped them shoot much better than 40.2 percent from the floor.

But the rebounding disparity and the Magic's failure to manage more than 10 offensive boards off their 52 missed shots should be a concern, especially with the Wolves making their only visit of the season to the TD Waterhouse Centre tonight.

"To me, our rebounding and our defense have done the same thing. It's either been up or down," coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday. "When we get consistent to a point where we're up in both, we're going to be consistent in the won-loss column too."

"When we have defended and rebounded, we've outplayed teams," added Grant Hill, who leads the Magic with a 9.4-rebound average. "Even in the games where we didn't necessarily shoot well, we still scored enough points."

One of those games did not occur Saturday night. The Wolves wiped out a halftime deficit by going on an 18-0 run during the third quarter and got at least 20 points and 10 rebounds each from Kevin Garnett, Joe Smith and Wally Szczerbiak in winning 103-95.

The loss concluded a road trip in which the Magic went 2-3. Aside from a 101-82 victory at Denver, they were unable to crack the century mark, which makes their 102.3-point average -- second in the NBA behind the Wolves -- ring hollow to Rivers.