By Jerry Zgoda
Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — A season that opened six months ago in Turkey and never seemed like it would end in November and December really wouldn’t end at Target Center on Wednesday night, when the Minnesota Timberwolves went an extra five minutes to beat Milwaukee, 110-101, in their season finale.
Point guard Randy Foye missed the season’s first three months because of a kneecap injury, but he finished it with a flourish, supplying a career-high 32 points that included 10 of the Wolves’ 16 points in overtime.
"What’s five more minutes?" he asked.
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Those five minutes produced the team’s third victory in its final four games and its 22nd of the season, a number that tied the Wolves on the season’s final night with Memphis for the league’s third-worst record.
The victory diminished the team’s probability of winning the draft’s No. 1 overall pick from a 15.6 percent chance and to either a 13.8 or 13.7 percent chance, which would be the third or fourth best, depending on the result of a blind draw Friday with Memphis.
The Wolves delivered everything with on "Fan Appreciation Night," except perhaps for what their fervent followers wished most: The third-most lottery chances all to themselves.
The gift that keeps on giving — a potentially better chance at landing either Kansas State freshman forward Michael Beasley or Memphis freshman guard Derrick Rose — vanished with a comeback spurred by a 26-11 burst that ended the third quarter and began the fourth.
Jefferson played one minute in the fourth quarter and none in overtime.
