Here's tonight's report from Phil Miller:


A handful of leftovers from a 97-96 loss to New Orleans that seemed to irritate the Wolves more than most:
-- Minnesota's two-point lead with two and a half minutes to play disappeared during a time out, which you don't see too often. Corey Brewer hit a 12-foot jumper with 4:25 to play in the fourth quarter, getting the shot off just as the 24-second clock expired. During the next break in the game, referee Ken Mauer came to the scorer's table and asked to watch a replay of the shot. After getting a couple of looks at the tape, Mauer determined that Brewer had released the shot a fraction of a second too late. The basket was disallowed, and the Wolves' two-point lead turned into a tie game. Considering the final score, that tenth of a second turned out to be pretty important.
-- The Wolves led 83-78 at the end of three quarters, which must have seemed awfully strange to the Target Center crowd. It was the first time this season that Minnesota led a home game entering the fourth quarter. Speaking of which, the Timberwolves also led at halftime, 64-53, just the sixth time they've been ahead halfway through a game. Naturally, the Wolves are now 0-6 in those games, a pretty good illustration of how hard it is for them to sustain their offense for 48 minutes. Good example tonight: Minnesota scored 32 second-half points, fewer than the 35 they scored in the second quarter alone.
-- Minnesota's next three games are on the road, and it's a pretty difficult trip: The combined homecourt record of the Lakers, Kings and Jazz, whom the Timberwolves visit in the next five days, is 31-8. It puts the Wolves in danger of catching New Jersey for the worst record in the league; the 2-20 Nets face last-place Indiana on Friday.
-- Considering Tuesday's 11-minute stint in Toronto was the first time Oleksiy Pecherov had played more than incidental minutes since before Thanksgiving, Wolves coach Kurt Rambis appeared a little taken aback when a reporter asked him about Pecherov's "improved play lately," an apparent reference to his 10 rebounds against the Raptors. And Rambis didn't sound particularly impressed with Pecherov's outing. "Some good, yes, and I saw some things I don't like, which is part of his habit," Rambis said of Pecherov, who was 0-for-6 from the field in Toronto. "But I want to keep him positive, keep him developing into the player we have a vision of him becoming. It's a matter of him showing us in practice that he understands." Pecherov didn't get off the bench against the Hornets.
-- The Wolves are last in the NBA in blocked shots, but Kevin Love and Al Jefferson each had important blocks down the stretch. Love's was particularly big, coming with just three minutes left. He knocked away Darren Collison's layup attempt at one end, then hustled to the other end of the floor and pulled down an amazing offensive rebound, ripping a Ryan Gomes miss away from Emeka Okafor and laying it back in to put the Wolves ahead, temporarily.
-- Jonny Flynn fared much better against Chris Paul in their second meeting than he did in their first, last Friday in New Orleans. The rookie guard was abused by the Hornets' all-star in their head-to-head matchup, with Paul swiping the ball from the Wolves eight times. Paul also scored 16 points to go with 15 assists, while Flynn was just 2-for-8 for six points and four assists.
Must have been quite a learning experience, because Flynn emerged far more confident and aggressive for the rematch. Flynn exceeded his assist total by the end of the first quarter, and did it in style: He fed Ryan Hollins for an alley-oop dunk with one second left in the period, pulling the Wolves into a 29-29 tie and spurring the Target Center crowd to its feet.
By halftime, Flynn had seven points and seven assists, nearly matching Paul's output of nine points and eight assists. The second half wasn't nearly as successful, however. While Paul finished with 15 points (including the game-winning basket) and 14 assists, Flynn had only two assists after halftime.
-- After committing a second-quarter foul, Chris Paul turned and asked the official scorer how many fouls he had been charged with. Rambis couldn't resist. "You've committed five," Rambis yelled at the Hornets' point guard, "but they've only called two on you."