One of the Los Angeles Lakers' four victories since the beginning of March came at the expense of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Having gone 0-5 this month, the Lakers will try to send the Timberwolves to a ninth consecutive defeat when the lowly and injury-plagued teams meet Friday night.
Los Angeles (20-58) will finish with its fewest wins since going 19-53 in 1957-58 while the franchise was in Minnesota, but the Lakers helped guarantee they wouldn't match that low water mark with a 101-99 overtime victory over the Timberwolves on March 25.
They haven't gotten that close to a win in April, having been outscored by an average of 20.4 points while scoring 89.6. They let Denver pull away in the third quarter in a 119-101 defeat Wednesday.
"You've just got to keep playing," coach Byron Scott said. "The bottom line is you've got four games left to try to atone for this one and play a lot better at both ends of the floor. It can happen. It's just a matter of going out there and doing it."
The Lakers had six players out with injuries and only Jeremy Lin is close to returning. He's questionable with a sore left knee.
The Timberwolves (16-62) had seven players hurting in a 116-91 defeat in Portland on Wednesday, and Kevin Garnett appears the closest to returning. The veteran forward, who has missed the last 17 games with a sore left knee, is questionable.
Minnesota began its skid with the overtime loss to the Lakers, as Jordan Clarkson made the winning free throws with 0.3 seconds left in the extra period.
Clarkson had 20 points in Los Angeles' second win in three matchups in this season's series and is averaging 19.6 in his last 10 games. He scored 21 on Wednesday.
"He's still learning. He made a ton of mistakes at both ends of the floor (against Denver)," Scott said. "Just because you're a rookie and you're coming to the end of the season, you still have a long way to go. He's still nowhere near where he'll probably be at this time next year."
A more ballyhooed rookie, 2014 No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins has likewise provided some positivity for his struggling club lately by averaging 24.3 points in his last nine games. The Rookie of the Year candidate had 29 points Wednesday and scored 27 against the Lakers last month.
"He's getting stronger posting up. He's getting the ball where he wants it," coach Flip Saunders said.
Wiggins was held to three points in a 120-119 win in Los Angeles on Nov. 28. Fellow rookie Zach LaVine scored a career-high 28 in that game and is averaging 18.3 points in his last nine.
Minnesota has won two of its last three visits to the Lakers after losing 13 in a row.
