Timberwolves 144, Pelicans 109
MINNEAPOLIS -- In the final game of the season for both teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves routed the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 144-109 Wednesday at Target Center.
With Wednesday's victory, Minnesota (29-53) closed the season with wins in of four of its last five games. The Timberwolves played the season finale amid reports that interim head coach Sam Mitchell likely won't return as coach next year. Despite that, Minnesota tallied a season high in points, topping their previous high of 132.
Timberwolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns, the apparent front-runner for the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, had 28 points -- 20 in the first half -- and 14 rebounds to lead the way for Minnesota. Towns finished his first year in the NBA with 51 double-doubles in 82 games. He came out of Wednesday's game to a standing ovation with 6:21 remaining in the fourth quarter, embracing Mitchell on the bench as he exited.
Six different Timberwolves scored in double figures. Shabazz Muhammad matched Towns with 28 points off the bench, while Gorgui Dieng added 20 points and 11 boards.
New Orleans (30-52) was playing short-handed, as just seven healthy players were available for head coach Alvin Gentry in Wednesday's finale. That left just Tim Frazier and Kendrick Perkins as options off the bench for Gentry. James Ennis led the way for the Pelicans with 28 points, while Omer Asik scored 24 in the loss.
Minnesota led by as many as 30 points in the first half before Asik cut into the deficit by scoring 10 straight points for the Pelicans. The Timberwolves shot 63.6 percent in the first half, while New Orleans shot just 38.8 percent from the floor before halftime.
The game was never close, and Minnesota -- which had a penchant for letting big leads slip away this season -- never relented. The Timberwolves' lead grew to as many as 41 points in the second half as their season ended on a high note.
NOTES: Minnesota will reportedly use a search firm to find the team's next head coach. Timberwolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell met with owner Glen Taylor on Wednesday to talk about the job Mitchell did this season in taking over for the late Flip Saunders. "You just hope you've done enough to prove that you're deserving to keep going forward with this team," Mitchell said before Wednesday's game. ... Pelicans F Luke Babbitt did not play in Wednesday's season finale due to food poisoning. "Whatever he ate didn't agree with him," said New Orleans head coach Alvin Gentry. Babbitt averaged 7.0 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this season. Without Babbitt, the short-handed Pelicans had just seven players available for Wednesday's game. ... Four Timberwolves players played in all 82 games this season. That list includes G Ricky Rubio, F/C Karl-Anthony Towns, G Shabazz Muhammad and C Gorgui Dieng. Minnesota is the only team in the NBA this year to have four players appear in all 82 regular-season games.