1999–2000 Minnesota Timberwolves season

The 1999–2000 Minnesota Timberwolves season was the 11th season for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association.^[1] The Timberwolves acquired the sixth overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft from the New Jersey Nets via trade, and selected small forward Wally Szczerbiak out of Miami University, and also selected point guard William Avery out of Duke University with the 14th overall pick.^[2][3][4]

Early into the regular season, the Timberwolves traveled overseas to Tokyo, Japan to play their first two games against the Sacramento Kings at the Tokyo Dome.^[5][6] In the first game on November 5, 1999, the Timberwolves were the road team and lost to the Kings by a score of 100–95, in front of 32,623 fans in attendance. Kevin Garnett and Terrell Brandon both posted double-doubles, as Garnett finished with 34 points and 17 rebounds, while Brandon contributed 18 points and 12 assists, and Anthony Peeler added 17 points.^[7][8][9] In the second game on November 6, the Timberwolves were the home team and defeated the Kings by a score of 114–101, in front of 34,013 fans in attendance. Garnett and Brandon both posted double-doubles, as Garnett finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds, while Brandon contributed 15 points and 13 assists; Peeler scored 19 points, and Joe Smith added 17 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.^[10][11][12]

With the addition of Szczerbiak, the Timberwolves got off to a 7–5 start to the regular season, but then struggled posting an eight-game losing streak in December afterwards, falling below .500 in winning percentage.^[13] However, the team soon recovered and played above .500 for the remainder of the season, winning 20 of their next 25 games, and holding a 27–20 record at the All-Star break.^[14] The Timberwolves posted a six-game winning streak in March, and finished in third place in the Midwest Division with a 50–32 record, earning the sixth seed in the Western Conference; it was their first 50-win season in franchise history.^[15]

Garnett averaged 22.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Brandon averaged 17.1 points, 8.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game, while Szczerbiak provided the team with 11.6 points per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and Malik Sealy contributed 11.3 points per game. Off the bench, Smith provided with 9.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while Peeler contributed 9.8 points per game, Sam Mitchell averaged 6.5 points per game, second-year center Rasho Nesterovic averaged 5.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as the team's starting center, and Bobby Jackson contributed 5.1 points and 2.4 assists per game.^[16]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at The Arena in Oakland in Oakland, California, Garnett was selected for the 2000 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team. Garnett scored 24 points along with 10 rebounds and 5 assists, as the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference, 137–126.^[17][18][19] Meanwhile, Szczerbiak was selected for the NBA Rookie Challenge Game, as a member of the Rookies team.^[20][21] Garnett finished in second place in Most Valuable Player voting, behind Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers,^[22][23] and also finished in seventh place in Defensive Player of the Year voting.^[23]

In the Western Conference First Round of the 2000 NBA playoffs, the Timberwolves faced off against the 3rd–seeded Portland Trail Blazers, who were led by All-Star forward Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith. The Timberwolves lost the first two games to the Trail Blazers on the road at the Rose Garden Arena, but managed to win Game 3 at home, 94–87 at the Target Center.^[24] However, the Timberwolves lost Game 4 to the Trail Blazers at home, 85–77, thus losing the series in four games; this was the fourth consecutive year that the Timberwolves lost in the opening round of the NBA playoffs.^[25][26][27] The Timberwolves finished 14th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 690,012 at the Target Center during the regular season.^[16][28] Following the season, Jackson signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings.^[29][30]

Tragedy struck on May 20, 2000, when Sealy died in a car accident, in which he was killed by a drunk driver, who was driving on the wrong side of the road; Sealy, who was 30 years old, was just coming home from a birthday party for his teammate Garnett, who had just turned 24 years old the previous day on May 19.^[31][32][33] The driver involved in the crash, Souksangouane Phengsene, was sentenced to four years in prison.^[34][35][36] One notable highlight of the regular season occurred on January 17, 2000, in a home game against Sealy's former team, the Indiana Pacers at the Target Center. Sealy hit a game winning three-pointer at the buzzer as the Timberwolves defeated the Pacers, 101–100.^[37][38][39]