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Flip Saunders' postgame news conference Saturday didn't start with a breakdown of the X's and O's in the Timberwolves' 102-80 victory over Indiana. Rather, the Wolves coach said, "It was a good day for Minnesota sports: St. John's, Vikes, Wild and Timberwolves."
The Wolves might have been the most unlikely winner of all. They came home from
a two-game road trip Tuesday to play three consecutive games at the Target Center,
entering the homestand with a 3-5 record at home.
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Three games and seven days later, the Wolves are 6-5 at home and a half-game out of first place in the Midwest Division.
"I think we're in a little bit of a rhythm right now," forward Kevin
Garnett said. "I think our defense is gorgeous right now. For the most
part, we're completing games."
It could have been an ugly three games for Minnesota. The Wolves and their thin
frontcourt had to deal with Houston's 7-foot-5 center, Yao Ming. Not a problem.
The Wolves won 92-75 and held Yao to 10 points and two rebounds.
Then there was Dallas. Call that unsung heroes night. Garnett got his 13th career
triple-double, but his starting frontcourt mates, Trenton Hassell and Gary Trent,
combined to go 12 of 15 from the field and pull down 21 rebounds in the 114-109
victory.
The toughest challenge of the homestand was supposed to be Indiana, which mauled
the Wolves by 23 points in Conseco Fieldhouse in late November. The Wolves got
payback Saturday night with a 22-point victory.
Minnesota is 8-1 this month and has started getting consistent output from its
key players.
"The key with us is that we've been extremely aggressive, both offensively
and defensively, sharing the basketball," Saunders said. "Making the
extra plays, getting a lot of guys doing a lot of different things."
Four-headed monster? The return of guard Troy Hudson on Saturday meant the Wolves
had four of their projected top six players back in the lineup. Hudson joined
the team's so-called "three-headed monster" of Garnett, Latrell Sprewell
and Sam Cassell.
Not so fast, Garnett said.
"Troy's got to get that dust off his jump shot first," Garnett said
jokingly. "He'll be all right."
Garnett was giving his sixth man a hard time after Hudson went 2 from 8 from
the field in 13 minutes of playing time. Hudson normally doesn't hear the crowd
during the game, but he couldn't help listening to the standing ovation he received
when he entered the game in the first quarter.
The main thing Hudson has to work on is getting his rhythm back. He hadn't played
a game since spraining his ankle Oct. 23.
"I haven't really played in eight weeks," he said. "I'm going
to have to use games as practice. (Saturday) was one of those first-day-in-training-camp
days. I'm trying to get trust in my ankle."
Garnett said it would be only a matter of time before Hudson gets his game back.
"All in all, we all understand what it means to come back from an injury,"
Garnett said. "One of the things he needed was to get that encouragement
from everyone else. Shoot the ball; relax. If you miss, you miss. We were all
encouraging him to go out and play. When Huddy gets through this, he's going
to be back to the old Huddy. We're not really worried about that."
Briefly: Garnett doesn't pay much attention to his statistics, but it was brought
up to him after Saturday's game that he had been on pace for a quadruple-double.
He finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, six assists and seven blocked shots.
"Somebody said I was on my way to getting a 'quad' or something,"
he said. "That would have been something, huh?"
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