Love averaged 15.8 points and 9.6 rebounds and had eight double-doubles in 17 March games. The team is sending media members nationwide a "Mr. Love Miracle Glass Cleaner" kit promoting him for the Rookie of the Year, which Love assumes Chicago's Derrick Rose will win.

"Getting that, it's nice because, especially at this point of the season, it shows I'm playing better and I keep progressing," said Love, whose playing time and offensive statistics have climbed since Al Jefferson was lost for the season in early February. "I was getting a lot of heat at the beginning of the year, so this shows that I'm just getting better."

The Wolves' victory Friday makes it more likely they'll end up with Utah's first-round pick in 2010 rather than one this summer. They'd prefer that anyway because it'd prevent them from having four first-round picks in a draft that looks like it could be the weakest in years and because it gives them the chance to get a better pick in 2010.

The pick, acquired from Philadelphia in last summer's trade that brought Carney to Minnesota, is protected through the top 22 picks this summer. It's protected through the top 15 in 2010.

"We're just going to let it play out," Wolves GM Jim Stack said. "It we get it, it wouldn't be the end of the world. But it'd probably be better if it was balanced out and we had it next year. It it's there, it's an asset."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "You still have to play games to win. Guys would much rather fly home (Friday night) with a win than a loss. We've just got to compete all the way to the end of the season. That's what we've talked about." -- Wolves coach Kevin McHale, after Friday's victory at Utah ended a nine-game road losing streak with just six games left in the season.