wolves/nba

HOUSTON - In a Timberwolves season that has turned topsy-turvy, it has come to this: These days, they play must-lose games.

And even then, they have trouble getting it right. Witness their 82-79 off-the-canvas victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at the Toyota Center.

Used to be, the Wolves would spend the final week of the regular season trying to position themselves among the top eight teams in the conference for the best possible first-round playoff series. This season, they are trying to position themselves among the bottom 10 teams in the league, eager to preserve and even improve their chances in the draft lottery.

But that isn't as easy as one might think, even with Kevin Garnett and Ricky Davis in drydock, a 14-game road losing streak supposedly providing drag and only nine players available against Houston.

What looked for much of the game like a sure defeat turned into something far more competitive and dicey after Marcus Banks' jumper with 1:27 left gave the Wolves their first lead at 78-77. The score hadn't budged from there when Eddie Griffin blocked Keith Bogans' driving layup with 35 seconds left, but Minnesota's shot clock violation with 11.2 seconds left gave the Rockets another chance to tie or lead.

Rafer Alston dribbled left to right and missed a mid-range jumper, and Trenton Hassell hit two free throws at 3.4 seconds to make it 80-77. The Wolves thwarted any notions of a Rockets three-pointer by fouling Luther Head, who tried to miss his second shot but made it anyway. So it was left to Bracey Wright to hit two free throws at 1.9 seconds. Juwan Howard threw away a long inbounds pass and -- voila! -- the Wolves had their first road victory in 15 tries.

At an unfortunate time.

It has been duly noted that the Wolves need to land the No. 10 pick or better in the NBA draft in June to retain the pick; if it's No. 11 or worse, it transfers to the Los Angeles Clippers as final payment in the Marko Jaric-Sam Cassell trade. Well, when the Wolves took the floor Wednesday night, they had the league's seventh-worst record. The victory put them in a tie with Houston for eighth-worst. Yet they are only a half-game better, in an upside-down standings sort of way, than the Seattle SuperSonics and 1 ½ games better than Orlando.

So if the Wolves (33-46) aren't careful, with a victory here and a victory there, they easily could wind up too good for their own good.

Coach Dwane Casey, however, bristled when it was suggested his team lost when it needed to win in the first four or five months of the season and is winning when it needs to lose.

"That's insinuating that we're trying to lose, and that's not true," Casey said. "We're trying to compete in every game. I've said that since Day 1. These guys are scratching, clawing, taking charges, they deserved to win that game.

"I thought that was the purpose of playing basketball."

Said Hassell: "These ain't just games where we're going in trying to lose 'em. We're trying to win because, I think, with winning, you get confidence and you believe in your ability."

Somehow finding confidence after a first half in which they trailed, at one point, by 18 and shot 32 percent, the Wolves outscored Houston 49-36 over the final two quarters. Twice midway through the fourth, Wright got the Wolves as close as four points, and Banks' three-pointer with 3:55 left cut the gap to only one.

That's one danger in playing young guys -- they might not be all that interested in protecting a draft pick to bring aboard yet another young guy. Mark Blount, with 16 points, led four Wolves scorers in double figures.