MINNEAPOLIS, April 13 (Ticker) -- Wally Szczerbiak long has been regarded as one of the finest shooters in the NBA, but he has never had a game like this.

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Szczerbiak scored a career-high and franchise record-tying 44 points on 19-of-26 shooting as the Minnesota Timberwolves blew out the Chicago Bulls, 119-95, to remain in fourth place in the Western Conference standings.

"Anytime you have your career high, you feel pretty good," Szczerbiak said. "I had no idea how many points I had. There had been a couple nights when I felt like this."

Among Szczerbiak's sizzling shooting was 6-of-7 from 3-point range. He surpassed by two Kevin Garnett's franchise mark for field goals in a game and tied Tony Campbell's scoring output against Boston on Feb. 2, 1990 -- Minnesota's first season.

"It was good to see Wally have a good game," Garnett said. "I'm very happy for him. I just told Wally to keep doing what he's doing. I told him to stay in control and let things come to him. We're a team (that) when one guy gets hot, we go to him."

"It was just one of those things," Szczerbiak said. "I was shooting in transition, coming off screens and just getting shots in the normal flow of the game. They just told me to keep shooting and take good shots."

Szczerbiak sat out the final 8:43 of the contest as the Timberwolves notched their third 50-win season in the last four years.

"It means a lot to win 50 games," Garnett said. "It's a great accomplishment, and it feels good. I don't think people realize how hard it is to win 50 games in this league."

The Timberwolves (50-31) are one-half game ahead of fifth-place Portland, which defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday to knock them into sixth place. Minnesota, which has lost in the first round of the playoffs in the last six seasons but has never held home-court advantage, concludes its season at Memphis on Wednesday.

"The only better position would be controlling home court and having the last game at home," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "With Memphis, we've beaten them three times, and no one wants to be swept. They almost beat the Lakers at home and just beat Portland. They've played well at home as of late."

Garnett added 14 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists in just 30 minutes for Minnesota, which handed Chicago an 11th straight road defeat.

"Kevin was a monster on the boards," Saunders said. "We rebounded well -- beating them by 26 on the boards -- and played an extremely good game."

"They doubled us up on the rebounds (57-31) and they doubled us up on the assists (43-20)," said Bulls forward Jalen Rose. "You just can't win that way on the road."

The Bulls, who conclude their season vs. Philadelphia on Tuesday, went an abysmal 3-38 away from the United Center.

"We've gotten better over time," said Bulls guard Jamal Crawford, who guarded Szczerbiak for much of the contest. "We've got young guys who have been really stepping up. Our veterans are allowing us to step up and continue to get better. We still have a ways to go, but we're getting there."

Szczerbiak scored 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting in the first half to help Minnesota take a 56-46 lead into the break. But he was nearly unstoppable in the third quarter, scoring 17 points in the first 5:52 to surpass his previous career high.

He added another five points in the period, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the advantage to 93-66.

"The third quarter was poor identification of the shooters and poor identification of Szczerbiak," Bulls coach Bill Cartwright said. "They had 20 points in transition in the third quarter, which is too much for anyone to overcome."

"I thought that I gave a lot of effort (in defending Szczerbiak)," Crawford said. "He just made a lot of shots. That's not taking anything away from him. He really got it going today."

The 6-7 shooting guard never scored 44 points in his All-American career at Miami of Ohio. Szczerbiak's college career high was a memorable 43-point performance in a first-round NCAA Tournament victory over Washington in 1999, and he said he once scored 54 points in a high school game.

"I prepare the same way all the time," Szczerbiak said. "The win is the biggest thing. We're in good position to get home court. Memphis is a big game, and they're a tough team."

Crawford scored 22 points and rookie Jay Williams added 18 for the Bulls, who had won three of four following a four-game losing streak.

"We've made a lot of improvement, and we've had a lot of guys that have grown this season, who have gained by playing more consistently," said Rose, who scored 15 points. "The opportunity to play this season will allow expectations to grow, and it's something we can count on going into next year."

Unlike the Bulls, the Timberwolves will play beyond Wednesday. But according to Saunders, they are not looking past the Grizzlies.

"Realistically, Wednesday is going to be the beginning of our playoffs," Saunders said. "That's how we really have to look at it."