<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The biggest difference between the Wolves and the Indiana Pacers this season? Eastern vs. Western conference. Indiana isn't exactly peaking at the end, either, starting April with a 1-4 record. HOUSTON - Accurate or not, guard Trenton Hassell didn't like thinking about the games the Timberwolves have been playing lately as any sort of trial run for the day when Kevin Garnett no longer is around. Garnett missed his third consecutive game Wednesday, the first time that has happened since April 1999, when he had flu-like symptoms. Garnett (right knee tendinitis) and Ricky Davis (groin strain) have not played since Friday and did not travel on this three-game trip. Guard Rashad McCants also did not play against Houston on Wednesday after spraining his right ankle late in Tuesday's game at Memphis. But playing without Garnett is a different proposition altogether, one that has fueled -- and will continue to fuel --countless trade rumors until the Wolves can contend again. "I hope not. I hope not," Hassell said of the prospect of Garnett ever leaving. "I hope that he ends his career here, because when you think of Minnesota, you think of Kevin Garnett. I just think he needs a little bit of help." Beginning, perhaps, with this offseason. "There's going to be a lot of uncertainty," Hassell said. "It's uncertain whether I'm going to be here or not. ... If I move on in order for them to get 'Ticket' more help here, so be it. I just want to see him win. Because he deserves it." So Hassell would "sacrifice" himself to the cause? "I would. Even if I got to go, I'd rather see that," he said. "I'm a young guy, I've still got time. He's getting a little older. And he's been here the longest. I just want to see him get help in here and win." McCants sits out McCants had played in 77 of the Wolves' first 78 games, starting the previous 11 and scoring in double figures in the 10 most recent, before being held out at Houston. That left his team with only nine available players, but coach Dwane Casey wasn't about to rush McCants back from his right ankle sprain.</div> Source
