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Home | Sports | Minnesota Wild

Looking back

Last update: April 14, 2008 - 11:15 PM

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ROSTER MOVES

• Traded Trenton Hassell to Dallas for Greg Buckner the night before training camp began.

• Traded Ricky Davis and Mark Blount for Miami for Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien and a conditional future No. 1 draft pick nine days before the season opener.

• Bought out Juwan Howard’s contract six days before the season’s opener.

• Dealt unhappy Gerald Green to Houston for Kirk Snyder, a 2010 second-round pick and cash at February’s trade deadline.

• Bought out Theo Ratliff’s contract at the March 1 waiver deadline.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

• The Wolves began training camp in Turkey and London with a roster that included Davis, Blount, Howard, Green and Ratliff, all now long gone.

• Mark Madsen credited the team’s first road victory — at New Orleans in late November — to teammate Marko Jaric, whom he called "rejuvenated" and "revitalized" because of a new relationship with Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima. She attended a handful of games at Target Center throughout the season.

• Coach Randy Wittman missed three games in December, including a big upset victory over Phoenix, while he recovered from emergency back surgery.

• Kevin Garnett’s long-awaited return to Target Center in February lasted 75 seconds, just long enough for him to wave to the sellout crowd and offer a couple of reverential bows before a game in which he did not play because of an abdominal injury.

• Owner Glen Taylor’s comments that Kevin Garnett "tanked" last season because of his refusal to play the final games made national news in March.

Signature victories

100-93 vs. Phoenix • Target Center • Dec. 8

Al Jefferson delivered 32 points and 20 rebounds and the Wolves won for the third time in their first 18 games. The first of two victories over the Suns P.S. (Pre-Shaq).

131-118 vs. Indiana • Target Center • Dec. 21

The same day the Star Tribune ran a front-page headline that asked "Worst Team Ever?" regarding the team’s 3-21 start, they recovered from a 40-20 first-quarter deficit to score the second most points in franchise history. Antoine Walker hit six three-pointers and offered a celebratory shimmy just for fun.

109-108 at Golden State • Jan. 21

The demarcation point in a season that began with a 3-21 record. This Martin Luther King matinee triumph ended a 16-game road losing streak and began a stretch when the Wolves won five of their next seven games.

Humbling defeats

94-87 vs. Atlanta • Target center • Nov. 24

They scored 63 points before halftime, 24 after it and blew a 16-point, third-quarter lead to lose for the 10th time in their first 11 games.

109-80 at Memphis • Dec. 1

Emotionally hung over from their fourth-quarter collapse at home to San Antonio two nights earlier, the Wolves offered what even Randy Wittman called "our worst performance of the year, by far."

113-82 at Houston • Jan. 11

Three days after an encouraging home victory over Miami, they surrendered a season-high 65 points in the first half and trailed by 33 points before halftime to a Rockets team missing star Tracy McGrady.

111-108 at Denver • Jan. 19

Leading by four points with 76 seconds left, they allowed the game’s final seven points, committed eight fourth-quarter turnovers, missed two crucial late free throws and fell to 1-20 on the road.

Most This Season

Points: 40, Al Jefferson (Jan. 27 vs. New Jersey and April 8 at Charlotte)

Rebounds: 20, Jefferson (Dec. 8 vs. Phoenix, Dec. 17 at Miami, Jan. 30 vs. Chicago)

Assists: 12, Sebastian Telfair (Feb. 4 vs. Houston)

Steals: 5, Kirk Snyder (March 2 vs. Seattle) and Marko Jaric (Jan. 29 at Chicago)

Blocked shots: 6, Theo Ratliff (Nov. 10 at Sacramento)

Minutes played: 48, Sebastian Telfair (Dec. 21 vs. Indiana)

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