While you were watching college basketball on Thursday, the NBA’s version of a pillow fight was going down at Madison Square Garden — with the loser gaining sole possession of the NBA’s worst record. The Timberwolves and Knicks — two teams more interested in college prospects than this godforsaken NBA season — entered Thursday’s game with 14-53 records, meaning the losing team would be one game up on the other in the race for the best odds at the #1 pick in the NBA Draft.
Considering the Knicks’ surprise win over the Spurs earlier this week, and the fact the T-Wolves signed a guy earlier in the day just so they could participate in the game at all, one would think the T-Wolves had this worst record thing in the bag. Not so much. Wolves rookies Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine each scored 20 points, and the Wolves found themselves leading 95-92 with 1.6 seconds remaining at the end of the first overtime period (note: an overtime game between the Knicks and T-Wolves probably passes for a hate crime in some states).
Now, a real team would run a nifty inbounds play to set up a decent three-point shot attempt as time expired. Of course, the 2014-15 Knicks don’t operate that way. The ball went straight to Andrea Bargnani, who sailed a line drive wide right of the rim. Bargs can hide behind the fact that it was a contested shot, but he didn’t appear all that committed to the act. Thanks to his brick, the MSG crowd was spared a painful second overtime, as he helped secure — for the moment — the league’s worst record.
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