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Wolf Tracks
The Timberwolves finished the 2002-03 regular season with a 51-31 record, the best mark in club history ... It's the sixth straight .500+ campaign for the Wolves (50-32 a year ago, 47-35 in 2000-01, 50-32 in 1999-2000, 25-25 in 1998-99, 45-37 in 1997-98), and their seventh consecutive postseason appearance ... Minnesota clinched its 2003 playoff berth on March 31, and claimed the West's fourth seed with a 95-87 victory in the season finale (April 16) at Memphis ... It's the first time the Wolves will start postseason play at home; they've been eliminated in the first round in each of their six playoff appearances to date ... That ties the all-time NBA record for most consecutive first-round departures; Portland suffered six straight ousters from 1993 to 1998 ... Minnesota's 51 wins would have been enough for the East's top seed; the Wolves finished nine games behind San Antonio and Dallas (60-22 apiece).

Right On Target
Minnesota won 33 home games this year, surpassing its previous high of 30 (set in 2000-01) ... The 33 victories are a club single-season record; they compiled a 30-11 mark in 2000-01 and went 29-12 a year ago ... Only Sacramento (35-6) put together a better home record this season; Dallas, San Antonio and New Jersey all went 33-8 as well ... Over the last three years, Minnesota has compiled the league's fourth-best home winning percentage, going 92-31 (.748) ... The March 12 loss to San Antonio snapped the Wolves' club-record 17-game home winning streak -- the longest home streak in the NBA this season -- which dated to a 105-97 loss to Utah on Jan. 4 ... The previous mark of 12 consecutive wins was set over two seasons (March 20, 1998-Feb. 22, 1999) ... The 17-game streak commenced with a 102-95 win vs. Golden State on Jan. 8, and included victories over Sacramento, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Dallas, Detroit and Utah ... Minnesota is 269-246 all-time at Target Center.

Streak Talk
Minnesota sandwiched two six-game winning streaks (Jan. 18-27; Feb. 2-16) around back-to-back losses at Dallas and Houston, then ran off seven straight wins (Feb. 19-March 2) after the Feb. 17 setback at Utah for an overall 19-3 tear ... The seven-game streak ranks as the third-longest in franchise history ... Minnesota halted a three-game slide with its April 2 victory over Seattle; the skid tied the Wolves' longest in 2002-03 (Nov. 9-13; March 4-7).

Road Apples
Minnesota finished 18-23 away from Target Center; the Wolves went 21-20 a year ago, the second .500+ road record in club history (24-17 in 1999-2000) ... Fourteen of Minnesota's 23 road losses were to teams that made the 2002 playoffs, while 13 of the 18 wins were over clubs that missed the postseason a year ago ... The April 6 win at Portland halted a three-game road skid for the Wolves ... The March 28 loss at Miami snapped Minnesota's three-game road winning streak that featured wins at Phoenix (March 9), Dallas (March 10) and San Antonio (March 21) ... It was the second time this season that Minnesota had strung together three road wins (Nov. 15-24, at Memphis, Atlanta and New York); the club record is six (Jan. 8-25, 2000) ... Utah and Sacramento are the only playoff-bound Western teams to sweep the Wolves at home; Minnesota won at Dallas, San Antonio, Portland (twice), Phoenix and the Lakers.

Conference Call
The March 27 loss in Orlando stopped Minnesota's 10-game winning streak vs. the East, a stretch that dated to a Jan. 12 defeat at Toronto ... The Wolves were swept by New Jersey, Indiana and Boston, playing all six of those before Christmas; they finished 18-12 in crossover games ... A year ago, Minnesota sported a 21-9 record vs. the East; they went 20-10 in 2000-01 and 18-12 in 1999-2000 ... On the other hand, the Wolves' 33-19 (.635) record vs. the Western Conference trailed only San Antonio, Sacramento and Dallas among NBA teams ... Minnesota's previous best record vs. the West was 32-20, set in 1999-2000 ... Western teams owned a 250-170 (.595) edge in interconference matchups in 2002-03; Detroit, New Orleans and New Jersey were the lone Eastern clubs with winning marks vs. the West.

High-Water Mark
The Wolves scored 119 points April 13 vs. Chicago, its best total since tallying 120 vs. the Lakers on Jan. 11, 2002 ... They put together back-to-back Century efforts (106 vs. the Clippers on April 11), after coming up short of 100 in six consecutive outings (an average of 92.2 ppg) ... Minnesota had 118 points in its Feb. 28 victory over Cleveland, and 117 four nights earlier in Milwaukee ... The Wolves went 28-4 when scoring 100+ points, compared to 4-11 when coming up short of 90 ... Minnesota netted a season-low 75 points at San Antonio on Nov. 11, and had 77 at Utah on Nov. 29 ... The Wolves averaged 100.6 ppg in 41 Target Center outings (95.6 ppg in 41 road appearances); overall, they averaged 98.1 ppg this season (seventh in the NBA) ... A year ago, Minnesota was fifth in the NBA in scoring (99.3 ppg).

Locked In
Minnesota shot a season-high 59.2% in the April 11 victory over the Clippers, eclipsing the team's previous best of 57.3% (Feb. 28 vs. Cleveland) ... It's the Wolves' highest percentage since hitting a club-record 64.2% vs. Chicago on Nov. 8, 2001; they've had four 60% nights in franchise history ... Minnesota shot 49.0% in seven April outings; the Wolves cleared 45% in 29 of 35 games since Feb. 1 ... The Wolves finished 19-3 when shooting 50%+ (2-8 when <40%) ... They hit 49.5% during their 17-game Target Center winning streak (50%+ eight times), with back-to-back 55.1% outings vs. Philadelphia and Houston (Feb. 2-4) ... The Wolves shot 56.6% in their Nov. 24 win at New York, their best road effort since a club-record 64.2% night at Philadelphia on Jan. 9, 2000 ... Minnesota finished second in FG accuracy at 46.6% (Utah 46.8%).

At The Other End
Miami shot 62.2% on March 28, the highest percentage allowed by Minnesota since Phoenix also hit 62.2% on Feb. 28, 1996 (a span of seven years and 561 games) ... Orlando drilled 53.2% one night earlier, and Dallas finished at 55.7% on March 30 ... Minnesota allowed a combined 56.9% over that three-game stretch; the Wolves had given up 50%+ shooting just seven times this year prior to that losing streak ... Dallas shot 32.04% on March 10, the Wolves' sixth-best defensive percentage of all time; they held the L.A. Clippers to 32.00% on Jan. 15 ... Minnesota was 50-9 this season when posting a higher percentage, but 1-21 when being outshot from the field; they kept 25 opponents at or below 40% overall (going 21-4) ... Minnesota ranked 10th by holding its opponents to 43.7%.

Plugging A Leak
The Wolves limited Portland to 78 points on April 6, the sixth time this season they'd kept an opponent below 80 ... Minnesota sliced its defensive average to 92.4 ppg in seven April outings, after closing March with a three-game losing streak (allowing 113.3 ppg) ... The Wolves won their last 11 games when holding the opposition below 100 points, dating to a 96-95 OT loss at Sacramento on March 5 ... On the flipside, they lost their final eight when allowing 100+, falling to 8-21 in that category ... The Wolves kept 20 of their last 24 visitors under 100 ... Minnesota set a franchise record by holding Los Angeles to 64 points on Jan. 15, a total that was also the Clippers' lowest since moving to California ... The Wolves ranked 18th in scoring defense (96.0 ppg); they finished 16th a year ago at 96.0 ppg.

Charity Chatter
The Wolves set a club record by going 24-for-24 from the line April 5 at Phoenix, and followed up with an 11-for-11 effort the next night at Portland ... Meanwhile, the Suns missed only 1 of their 20 attempts on April 5; the combined 97.7% accuracy (43-for-44) is the second-highest single-game figure in NBA history ... Minnesota shot 82.7% (540-for-653) in its final 28 road outings ... The Wolves set season lows in FTs made and attempted with their 6-for-9 effort April 2 vs. Seattle; Minnesota averaged just 16.3 FTAs in seven April starts (20.3 in March, 23.1 in February) ... They ranked 25th in FTAs (22.3/-0.3 per game); Minnesota finished 25th in FTAs last year (21.4/-2.5 per game) and 28th in 2000-01 (21.2/-5.2 per game) ... The Wolves were 10th in FT% at 77.0%; they finished second (79.8%) in 2001-02.

From Way Downtown
Minnesota tied a club single-game record for treys made with its 12-for-19 effort Feb. 14 vs. New Orleans ... Previously, the Wolves sank 12 three-pointers vs. Chicago (Feb. 16, 1996) and at Cleveland (Dec. 30, 1996) ... Minnesota boosted its three-point accuracy to 38.2% (211-for-553) after Jan. 1 — including 52.4% (22-for-42) in the last five games ... The Wolves ranked sixth in three-point accuracy (36.8%), but 24th in treys made and 27th in attempts; they went 40-15 this season when making at least three three-pointers ... Their 9-for-14 effort April 13 vs. Chicago was the 13th time this year the Wolves had hit 50%+ from beyond the arc; they shot a season-best 7-for-9 in the Dec. 12 victory over Atlanta ... Two Wolves (Szczerbiak 42.1%, Peeler 41.0%) were among the NBA's top eight individually.

Hot Dish
Minnesota handed out a franchise-record 43 assists in the April 13 win over Chicago, eclipsing its previous best of 42 (April 19, 1992 vs. Charlotte) ... It's the fourth 40-assist night in club history; the Wolves dealt 40 vs. Cleveland on Feb. 28 ... They dished 30+ assists 14 times overall this season, including a 30-assist outing March 27 at Orlando ... Minnesota averaged 25.3 apg on the year (second in the NBA), with a low of 12 on Dec. 27 at Detroit; they went 48-16 when dishing out 22+ assists ... They've finished among the NBA's top three in assists in each of the past six seasons, including a second-place finish in 2001-02 (24.3 apg) and a league-leading 26.9 apg in 1999-2000 ... Minnesota was credited with 30+ assists 15 times last year, winning all 15; they handed out 39 assists Nov. 8 vs. Chicago.

The Board Report
Minnesota outrebounded Chicago 57-31 on April 13 (29-12 in the 2nd half), its 19th double-digit advantage of the season ... The 26-rebound margin equals the Wolves' largest spread ever; they outrebounded Sacramento 61-35 on Dec. 14, 2001 ... Minnesota held the board edge in four of its final five games (one tie), after being outboarded in four straight — including a 49-38 spread April 5 at Phoenix (the Wolves' 13th double-figure deficit) ... On the season, they went 36-13 with the rebounding edge or even, but 15-18 when coming up short on the glass ... Minnesota outrebounded opponents by a +2.3 rpg margin (43.3-41.0) in its last 20 trips away from Target Center ... Overall, they finished at +1.9 rpg (43.6-41.7); the Wolves led the NBA in rebounding margin in 2001-02 at +4.7 rpg (44.2-39.5).

Turnover Tidbits
Minnesota committed eight TOs in the season finale at Memphis, its third single-digit effort in April (13th on the season) ... The Wolves sliced their miscues to 12.0 per game in the season's final month, dropping their overall average to 13.7 on the year (sixth in the NBA) ... They'd finished among the top four in fewest TOs in each of the previous five seasons ... Minnesota tied a club record by committing four TOs Feb. 28 vs. Cleveland; the Wolves also had four TOs vs. Denver on March 23, 2001 ... Minnesota coughed it up 20+ times on five occasions, with a club-record 29 TOs Nov. 4 at New Jersey ... The Lakers had five miscues on March 14 (equaling the fewest ever forced by Minnesota); the Wolves forced only 12.1 TOs after March 1, and ranked 27th in TOs forced (13.6) as well as last in steals (6.74 spg).

The Zoo Crew
The Wolves' non-starters combined for 33 points April 16 at Memphis, marking just the fifth time in their final 29 games that they'd provided 30+ ... The Wolves received 30+ points from their non-starters 31 times overall ... Minnesota's bench compiled a whopping 61-19 advantage Jan. 13 vs. Denver, and racked up a 51-12 margin Dec. 5 at Golden State ... Minnesota faced a 31-6 bench deficit April 9 at Seattle, as well as a 32-8 spread April 5 at Phoenix ... Over the last 29, the Wolves' reserves averaged just 21.2 ppg; they'd kicked in 32.9 ppg in their previous 20 contests ... On the season, the bench averaged 27.6 ppg while shooting 44.0%; the opposition tallied 28.1 bench points per contest ... A year ago, Minnesota was outscored by -2.1 ppg (26.3-28.4) off the bench.

Attendance Notes
Minnesota drew a standing-room-only 19,304 vs. Dallas on March 30, its third sellout of the season ... The Wolves had an SRO 20,199 on hand March 14 vs. the Lakers — the third-largest Target Center crowd in franchise history — and followed by drawing a capacity 19,006 March 16 vs. Portland ... The Jan. 13 total of 13,009 vs. Denver was Minnesota's smallest at home since drawing 11,191 vs. Sacramento on Dec. 3, 1996 ... A crowd of 16,113 was on hand Oct. 30 against Denver, Minnesota's smallest Opening Night gathering since 1995 ... They averaged 15,700 for 41 Target Center openings in 2002-03 (18th in the NBA) ... The Wolves drew 14 sellouts last year, including an SRO 20,320 vs. Washington on Jan. 21 — the largest crowd in Target Center history ... Minnesota averaged 17,846 in 41 home dates last year (13th in the NBA) ... They drew eight sellouts in 2000-01, and finished the year ranked 11th at 17,497 per game.