Timberwolves daily
April recap
APRIL (3-7, 33-49) The Timberwolves began the final month of the campaign with their fifth straight home victory and ninth in 11 contests at Target Center with a 106-104 overtime win against Golden State (Apr. 1). Marcus Banks led the Wolves with 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The Wolves hit the road for another two-game road trip, dropping games at Charlotte (Apr. 4) and Atlanta (Apr. 5). The Wolves lost to the Hawks on Josh Childress’ buzzer-beating lay up. Garnett had another big game, posting 27 points and 15 rebounds, while Ricky Davis contributed 33 points, including a game tying shot with less than three seconds remaining. The loss was the Wolves’ 13th straight on the road. Minnesota returned home to drop a game to Utah (Apr. 7), snapping the team's five-game Target Center winning streak. The Wolves then exacted a measure of revenge on the Hawks, beating them 84-83 on a Trenton Hassell last second shot at Target Center on Apr. 9. Kevin Garnett snapped his league-leading 351 consecutive games started streak, sitting out due to tendinitis. McCants scored a career-high 28 points in Garnett’s absence, leading the Wolves to victory. The Wolves followed up the victory over Atlanta with a 76-92 loss to Memphis on Apr. 11 at the FedEx Forum. Mark Blount led the Wolves in the loss with 14 points and eight rebounds. Minnesota traveled next to Houston, where they beat the Rockets 82-79 at the Toyota Center. The Wolves overcame a 10-point halftime deficit behind Mark Blount’s team-high 16 points. The Rockets scored only 10 points in the final quarter. Minnesota wrapped up its final road trip of the season on Apr. 14 with an 89-77 loss to Indiana at Conseco Fieldhouse. In that game, Eddie Griffin posted a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Returning home for its final two games of the season, Minnesota opened up with a 103-90 loss to San Antonio on Apr. 16. Marcus Banks tallied 25 points and five rebounds in the loss. Minnesota wrapped up the 2005-06 season with a 102-92, double-overtime loss to Memphis. Rookie Bracey Wright registered a career-high 19 points, while Griffin recorded 17 points and 15 rebounds. The Wolves closed out their 17th season with a 33-49 record.
Draft
The NBA today announced that the Minnesota Timberwolves won the tiebreaker over the Boston Celtics and are currently slotted into the No. 6 selection for NBA Draft 2006. The final order of this year's NBA Draft will be determined with the NBA Draft Lottery 2006, which will be held on Tuesday, May 23 at the NBA Entertainment studio in Secaucus, N.J.
The Timberwolves and Celtics finished the 2005-06 regular season with identical 33-49 records, and the Wolves moved into the sixth slot after a random drawing was held earlier today at the NBA League Office in New York City. NBA Draft 2006 will be held on Wednesday, June 28 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Along with their first-round selection, the Timberwolves will also have second-round picks No. 36 or 37 (their own) and No. 57 (from Phoenix for Nikoloz Tskitishvili). The Wolves will also get either Golden State's second-round pick or Boston's second-round pick depending on the results of the NBA Draft Lottery, as part of the mid-season trade with Boston. The order of selection in the second round cannot be determined until after the Draft Lottery.
Below are the teams and their number of chances in NBA Draft Lottery 2006. The first three picks in the NBA Draft will be determined by the lottery and the remainder of the "lottery teams" will select in positions 4 through 14 in inverse order of their consolidated standings at the end of the regular season):
TEAM RECORD LOTTERY CHANCES*
Portland : 250
New York (To Chicago) : 199
Charlotte : 138
Atlanta : 137
Toronto : 88
Minnesota : 53
Boston : 53
Houston : 23
Golden State : 22
Seattle : 11
Orlando : 8
New Orleans/Okla City : 7
Philadelphia : 6
Utah : 5
* Lottery chances are out of 1,000
