Wolves record: 24-58
7.5 or 7.6 Wolves percentage of winning the draft lottery this summer, pending a coin flip
Ike Diogu had 28 points and 13 rebounds to help the Sacramento Kings finish a sorry season with a victory, 97-90 over the Minnesota Timberwolves in a season finale featuring two teams that started thinking about next season a long time ago…
Craig Smith scored 18 points in 18 minutes before fouling out for the Wolves. It was a fitting end for Minnesota, losing to the worst team in the league on its home floor.
Minnesota (24-58) finished with 13 victories on the road and only 11 at home, the only team in the league with a better record on the road.
The Timberwolves brought college basketball’s Senior Night to the pros in Wednesday’s season finale when coach Kevin McHale started Brian Cardinal, Jason Collins, Mike Miller, Kevin Ollie and, yes, even an ailing Mark Madsen against Sacramento.
McHale called his gesture to the team’s veterans a “thank you for all they’ve done” on a night when the Wolves ended the season the way they began it, with a home game against the Kings…
Kevin Love had 12 points and 10 rebounds to finish the season with 29 double-doubles, breaking the team rookie record set by Christian Laettner in 1992-93.
Love’s three offensive rebounds gave him 274 for the season and moved him past Felton Spencer (272 in 1990-91) for the second-highest season total in team history.
Al Jefferson set the team record last season with 308.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor, perhaps wishing to avoid a lot of media questions about McHale’s future, will miss the season ender.
Tonight’s game also marks the Target Center return of former Wolves guard Rashad McCants, who was traded to Sacramento on Feb. 20 along with center Calvin Booth in exchange for forward Shelden Williams and point guard Bobby Brown.
However, tonight, McCants displayed the same type of mindset seen in the previous three years for Minnesota with a variety of shots from the perimeter. The 2005 first round draft pick of the Wolves finished with 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field.
Randy Foye missed his ninth consecutive game due to a bruised hip that has bothered the shooting guard for the last month of the season…
The Wolves end the season with a 24-58 record, two games better than last season’s 22-60 record. Minnesota ends the season with the second-lowest field goal percentage in the league and the fifth-worst field goal defense. They also produced the third-fewest steals per game, and gave up more blocked shots than any team save Charlotte. On a more positive note, they finished 12th in the league in rebounding, and fifth in offensive rebounding.