Greetings. Kent Youngblood here. I went to practice so Jerry could get a much-deserved day off.

Wolves coach Kurt Rambis must read Jerry's blog items. Either that or great minds think alike. Because one of the themes of Thursday's practice was keeping the ball moving when things get tough in the second half of games.

Once again, Rambis preached patience, talked about the process. What's happening? I'll be writing more about it for tomorrow's paper, but Rambis said it's a combination of the other team ramping up the defense and the Wolves losing their precision on offense. Then it becomes one-on-one city.

Despite their 5-17 record, Rambis continues to believe his team is miles ahead of last year's team. "We looked at numbers yesterday, prior to yesterday's game," Rambis said. "In the last six ball games, our defensive field goal percentage was at a very high level. Our offensive field goal percentage was at a high level, our rebounding was at a high level. ... When you looked at those categories, you go, 'Hey, we should be winning games....'

"That's proof to me...they are getting better. It's hard to monitor when you're not getting the wins. But we are getting better."

Meanwhile, center Darko Milicic took part in most of practice, but that contusion is still bothering him. "He was hobbling," Rambis said. "We'll see. He tried to do as much as he could. But you could see he was still being bothered."

Rambis said he didn't know whether guard Martell Webster would see his first regular season action Friday or Saturday. But it will be one of them. Webster has been told he can't play in back-to-back games yet, so it's a matter of choosing which game he'll play in.

That's about it. Have a good night.