Sometimes, when the worst butt heads, it can be sardonically entertaining.
That's one way to describe what transpired between Minnesota (15-53) and New York on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. A pair of injury-riddled, floundering franchises needed five extra minutes to decide which would take a leg up in the race for last place and the most ping-pong balls in this year's NBA draft lottery.
Thanks to a missed Andrea Bargnani 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer, that dubious privilege now belongs to the Knicks (14-54).
The Wolves snapped a six-game losing streak despite dressing just eight players for the fourth game in a row. They were only able to do that by signing D-Leaguer Sean Kilpatrick to a 10-day contract via an NBA-granted roster hardship exception.
And they called up Kilpatrick from the Delaware 87ers primarily because he was able to make it to the arena in time.
1 big moment: Rookie Minnesota guard Zach LaVine went 4-for-4 from the foul stripe in the final 10.7 seconds to give Minnesota the lead and retain it. LaVine finished with 20 points and four assists in his 26th start of the season.
2 top performers: Wolves center Gorgui Dieng missed one shot all night, scoring 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting and pulling down 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season. The second-year big man from Senegal added a career-high six blocked shots, too. Guard Langston Galloway led the Knicks with 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
3 key stats: The Knicks now have a 25-percent chance at landing the 2015 draft's No. 1 overall pick. Minnesota's odds sit at 19.9 percent with 14 games to go. The Lakers (17-49) and 76ers (16-52) also have a chance to earn the lottery's top seed. One other number to remember: since the NBA moved to a weighted lottery system for the 1985 draft, only four teams with the league's worst (or tied-for-worst) record have earned the top overall selection.
Even though the NBA's worst two teams squared off, a sellout crowd of 19,812 packed the Garden to its upper rafters.
Although he's under contract through the end of the season, former Wolves/current Knicks power forward Louis Amundson has signed seven 10-day contracts, the eighth-most in NBA history. In nine NBA seasons, he's played for nine different teams.
Said: "They (hurt) us inside, but we only have two bigs. So we just have to play smart and play the best we can. . . . You never know when you're going to get more minutes, so I just trying to enjoy it and play the best I can." -- Dieng
Seen: Kilpatrick probably planned to kick back Thursday evening and watch his Cincinnati Bearcats take on Purdue in the first round of NCAA tournament play. Instead, he hopped in a car and booked it from Delaware to New York and showed up about 45 minutes before his NBA debut. The 6-foot-4 former Bearcat was plus-5 in 10 minutes, 17 seconds of action.
Injury report: Ricky Rubio (sore right ankle), Justin Hamilton (headache), Kevin Garnett (sore left knee), Gary Neal (sore right ankle), Nikola Pekovic (sore right ankle), Anthony Bennett (sprained right ankle), Robbie Hummel (broken right hand) and Shabazz Muhammad (ruptured ligament left middle finger, done for season) all missed Thursday's game. Carmelo Anthony, Tim Hardaway Jr., Cleanthony Early, Ricky Ledo and Jose Calderon all were out for the Knicks.
The good news, though, is that coach and president Flip Saunders was back on the sidelines. He missed Wednesday's loss at Toronto to be with his ailing father in Cleveland.
Next: After playing four games in five nights and concluding an 11-day span in which they played seven games in seven different cities, the Wolves have two days off before hosting Charlotte on Sunday. Five of Minnesota's next eight games are at the Target Center.
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