Minnesota finished the regular season with a 50-32 record, equaling the best mark in franchise history (1999-2000) ... It's the fifth straight .500+ campaign for the Wolves (47-35 a year ago, 25-25 in 1998-99, 45-37 in 1997-98), and their sixth consecutive postseason appearance ... Minnesota clinched its 2002 playoff berth with a 92-81 victory over Memphis on April 3, and claimed the fifth seed in the Western Conference playoffs ... Among Eastern teams, only New Jersey (52-30) surpassed the Wolves' 50-win total ... The Wolves lost just two season series this year (0-2 vs. Cleveland, 1-3 vs. Sacramento) ... Minnesota finished eight games behind Midwest Division champion San Antonio (58-24), and seven in back of Dallas (57-25) for the West's fourth seed and homecourt advantage ... The Wolves have been eliminated in the first round in each of their five postseason appearances to date; the all-time NBA record for most consecutive first-round departures is six, set by Portland between 1993 and 1998.

Minnesota completed the home portion of its 2001-02 regular season slate with the April 17 win over Denver, finishing 29-12 at Target Center ... They began the season 19-2 through January, but played .500 (10-10) after Feb. 1 ... Still, the Wolves' 29 home victories is the second-highest total in franchise history; they went 30-11 a year ago ... The Feb. 3 loss to Sacramento stopped Minnesota's nine-game home winning streak (the third-longest in club history), which dated to a 107-103 loss to Dallas on Dec. 18 ... Later, they dropped five in a row at Target Center (March 1-17) before downing Toronto on March 19; that equaled the Wolves' third-longest home slide ever ... Minnesota closed the season with four wins in its last five at home, highlighted by wins over Dallas (113-111 on March 28) and New Jersey (86-85 on March 31).

The Wolves finished up 21-20 away from Target Center, having kept their road record at .500 or better all year ... The 21 victories represents the second-highest total in club history; they went 24-17 in 1999-2000 and 19-22 in 1997-98 ... The March 21 win at Memphis stopped a three-game road drought for Minnesota; they went 4-3 in their final seven road outings ... Prior to its March 5 loss at Seattle, Minnesota had won four of its previous five road contests — picking up double-digit wins at Dallas (117-100 on Feb. 19), San Antonio (112-88 on Feb. 23) and Utah (116-105 on March 2) ... Minnesota had lost four straight road games before beating Boston on Feb. 1, its second four-game slide of the year.

A total of 16 players saw action this season for the Wolves, up one from a year ago ... Kevin Garnett and Sam Mitchell are the only players to have appeared in every postseason game (20) in club history ... Two Wolves (Marc Jackson, Loren Woods) will be making their first playoff appearances this spring ... Minnesota's 12 active players have a combined 172 games of postseason experience, topped by Mitchell's 56 games and Anthony Peeler's 30 ... The 12 Wolves on the playoff roster have missed 35 games due to injury/illness this season (Gary Trent 18, Felipe López 9, Joe Smith 8) ... Four players (Chauncey Billups, Rasho Nesterovic, Peeler, Wally Szczerbiak) appeared in all 82 games.

Minnesota finished 2001-02 with a 21-9 mark vs. Eastern Conference clubs, its best-ever record against the East (20-10 a year ago) ... They were 12-3 at Target Center (losing only to Cleveland, Indiana and Boston), compared to 9-6 on the road ... Meanwhile, the Wolves went 7-5 at home against Midwest Division rivals, but 8-4 away from Target Center (losses at Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Denver) ... Conversely, Minnesota finished 10-4 at home vs. Pacific Division clubs, but just 4-10 on the road (winning twice at Golden State and once each at Portland and the Clippers) ... Against the West's playoff teams, the Wolves were .500 (14-14); they swept the Lakers, Seattle and Utah at home.

The April 9 game at Sacramento concluded a 13-day stretch in which the Wolves played eight times, including three sets of back-to-back outings ... It also wrapped up the last of 19 back-to-back sets for Minnesota in 2001-02 ... The Wolves went 11-8 on the front half and 10-9 on the tail end of back-to-backs this year, with wins at Houston (Nov. 3), vs. Orlando (Nov. 17), at Utah (Dec. 12), at Chicago (Dec. 22), at Atlanta (Jan. 5), at Washington (Jan. 12), at Golden State (Jan. 19), vs. Atlanta (Jan. 26), at Utah (March 2) and at New York (March 29) ... Minnesota posted a 3-14 record on the tail end of back-to-back outings last year, beating only Atlanta (Nov. 18), Indiana (Dec. 16) and Cleveland (Feb. 1).

Minnesota closed the season by topping 100 points in five of its last seven games; prior to that, the Wolves had cracked the Century Mark in only three of their previous 16 ... During their season-high seven-game losing streak in March, the Wolves' offensive output plummeted to 86.4 ppg ... Minnesota was just 3-14 when scoring less than 90, but 29-12 when tallying 100+; they were held to a season-low 75 points Nov. 28 at the L.A. Clippers ... Minnesota erupted for 127 points in its Nov. 8 victory over Chicago — the fifth-highest single-game figure in club history ... The Wolves finished fifth in the NBA in scoring (99.3 ppg); that was their best output since averaging 101.1 ppg in 1997-98.

The Wolves finished as the NBA's fifth-most-accurate shooting team by hitting 46.1% from the field, but put together consecutive 50%+ efforts only twice (Jan. 7-9-11, Feb. 17-19) ... Minnesota topped 50% on 24 occasions, while 11 times failing to reach 40%; the Wolves were 21-3 when shooting 50%+, but 0-11 when coming up short of 40% ... Minnesota hit 56.8% in the April 6 victory over Phoenix, their best percentage since All-Star Weekend, but shot a season-low 33.3% five nights later against the L.A. Lakers ... Minnesota tied a club record by hitting 64.2% Nov. 8 vs. Chicago ... Three starters (Szczerbiak 50.8%, Nesterovic 49.3%, Garnett 47.0%) ranked among the NBA's leaders in FG accuracy.

Minnesota was third in three-point accuracy at 37.8%, shattering the previous club single-season record of 35.7% (set last year) ... The Wolves' 396 treys also set a new season standard; they sank 371 three-pointers in 1996-97 ... Their attempts dipped to 11.1 per game in the last 16 (15.0 in the previous 15 contests) ... Minnesota tied its season high by going 11-for-22 from beyond the arc Feb. 27 vs. the Lakers, led by Chauncey Billups' 7-for-8 effort ... Anthony Peeler hit a career-high seven three-pointers Jan. 9 vs. Seattle ... Minnesota's three most prolific three-point shooters (Szczerbiak, Billups, Peeler) hit a combined 40.8% (322-for-789) this year; Wally Szczerbiak ranked fourth in the NBA at 45.5%.

Minnesota posted season highs with its 37-for-43 effort from the line March 2 at Utah, eclipsing a 34-for-40 performance Jan. 19 at Golden State ... However, the Wolves attempted 25+ FTs in only 10 of their final 32 games; they went to the line 20 times or less in 14 of those 32 ... Minnesota ranked 25th in FTAs (21.4), after finishing 28th a year ago (21.2) ... The Wolves attempted 204 fewer FTs than their opponents (-2.5 per game); they went to the line 427 fewer times in 1999-2000 (-5.2 per game) ... On the flipside, Minnesota shot a perfect 15-for-15 Feb. 23 at San Antonio ... The Wolves were second in the NBA in FT accuracy at 79.8%, the second-best percentage in club history (79.84% in 1992-93).

Minnesota held 24 of its 33 opponents under 100 after All-Star Weekend, including 11 sub-90 defensive efforts ... They sliced their scoring defense to 94.7 ppg since the Break, after giving up 96.8 ppg beforehand ... Dallas (Dec. 15) and Sacramento (Dec. 28) both tallied 125 points vs. Minnesota; Golden State's 115-point outburst on March 26 was the most allowed by the Wolves at Target Center this season ... Minnesota held three November opponents under 75, including Miami's 73-point night on Nov. 20 ... The Wolves went 13-18 when giving up 100+ points this year (37-14 when less than 100) ... Minnesota finished 16th in scoring defense (96.0 ppg).

The Wolves allowed 44.51% shooting on the year (14th in the NBA), narrowly missing their best defensive percentage for a full season ... They limited opponents to 44.46% accuracy in 1999-2000, and 43.9% in the abbreviated 1998-99 campaign ... Minnesota gave up 50%+ shooting on 17 occasions, while posting 17 sub-40% nights; they were 6-11 in the first category, but 15-2 when keeping the opposition below 40% ... Sacramento recorded the two best shooting nights against the Wolves this season, hitting 56.6% on Dec. 28 and 56.2% on Apr. 9 ... Overall, Minnesota outshot its opponent in 53 of 82 games; they went 46-8 when outshooting their foe or breaking even (4-24 when being outshot).

Minnesota outboarded 11 of its final 12 opponents, four of which were by double-figure spreads ... They racked up a +7.6 rpg advantage (44.5-36.9) in those 12, after being outrebounded in three straight contests (-9.7 rpg) ... Minnesota posted 23 double-digit board margins this year; they held the advantage in 56 of 82 games overall ... Minnesota outboarded Sacramento 61-35 on Dec. 14, establishing franchise single-game records for total rebounds and rebounding margin (+26) ... The Wolves went 40-16 with the board edge (10-16 when even or coming up short) ... Minnesota led the NBA in rebounding margin at +4.7 rpg (44.2-39.5); they broke even (42.3-42.3) a year ago, and were +1.6 rpg in 1999-2000.

The Wolves were credited with 30+ assists 15 times this year, winning all 15 of those games; however, they had a season-low 13 assists April 11 at the Lakers and just 16 at Sacramento on April 9 ... Minnesota handed out 37 assists Feb. 6 vs. Portland, and added 33 vs. Dallas on March 28 — including Chauncey Billups' club-record-tying 17 assists ... Billups led Minnesota in assists 26 times in the final 35 games ... The Wolves ranked second in the NBA in assists at 24.3 per game, although that slipped to 22.1 apg after March 1 ... Minnesota has now finished among the league's top three in assists in each of the past five seasons; they were second a year ago (25.4 apg) and first in 1999-2000 (26.9).

The Wolves committed just nine TOs April 15 vs. Boston, their sixth single-digit effort in the last 18 (16th total); they had a season-low six TOs March 28 vs. Dallas ... Minnesota averaged 11.8 TOs over its final 18, after coughing it up 18+ times in five straight games ... The Wolves had a season-high 24 TOs Jan. 23 at Detroit; they committed 20+ miscues six times this year ... Minnesota finished fourth in the NBA in fewest TOs (13.4) in 2001-02 ... Last year, they were fourth in fewest TOs (13.9); Minnesota has led the NBA in fewest TOs twice in the past four years (12.8 in 1998-99, 13.9 in 1997-98) ... The Wolves forced 20+ miscues eight times; however, they finished just 24th in TOs forced (13.4).

Chauncey Billups exploded for 24 of his career-high 36 points in the third quarter of the Feb. 19 game at Dallas, helping the Wolves turn a 10-point halftime deficit into six-point advantage after three ... That breaks James Robinson's franchise record for points in a quarter; Robinson tallied 23 in the fourth quarter at Cleveland on Dec. 30, 1996 ... Billups also equaled Tony Campbell's club record (2nd half, Feb. 2, 1990 vs. Boston) for points in a half by netting 30 in the 2nd half at Dallas ... The 71-point 2nd half at Dallas was the Wolves' highest-scoring half in just over three years — since tallying 71 vs. Houston on Feb. 17, 1999 (a 116-102 Minnesota victory), a span of 260 games.

Minnesota's reserves combined for a season-high 60 points in the finale vs. Denver, including 17 by Anthony Peeler and 15 by Gary Trent ... They provided 56 points March 2 at Utah, highlighted by 17 from Trent and 14 from Will Avery ... Minnesota went 25-17 when receiving 25+ points from its non-starters; the bench scored 28.8 ppg in the final 16 games (going 10-6) ... Minnesota's reserves combined for 55 points vs. Chicago on Nov. 8; their low was five points (Nov. 20 at Miami) ... Chauncey Billups led all scorers with 22 points on Opening Night vs. Philadelphia, helping Minnesota compile a 37-11 edge ... On the season, the Wolves were outscored by -2.1 ppg (26.3-28.4) off the bench.

The Wolves drew a standing-room-only crowd of 19,668 March 28 vs. Dallas, their 13th sellout in 28 appearances after Jan. 1 (14th of the season) ... They averaged 18,293 at home in 2002, up from an 16,882 average through December ... Minnesota drew 19,497 on March 23 vs. Portland, 19,769 on Feb. 27 vs. the Lakers, and 19,669 on Feb. 15 vs. Denver ... An SRO 20,320 was on hand Jan. 21 vs. Washington, the largest crowd in Target Center history ... The Wolves drew eight sellouts last year, topped by an SRO crowd of 20,099 on April 8 vs. the Lakers ... Minnesota averaged 17,846 in 41 Target Center outings this year (13th in the NBA), after drawing 17,497 per night in 2000-01 (11th).