Patrick Reusse: Inability to finish is a carryover from old era

Jon Roe was a veteran Star Tribune sportswriter who had been off the Gophers football beat for a few years. He returned to those duties for the 1993 season.

The season opener was at Penn State, where the Nittany Lions were making their debut as a Big Ten team.

The Gophers returned the opening kickoff to their 10. Four plays later, quarterback Tim Schade threw an interception, putting Penn State at Minnesota's 29.

The Nittany Lions' first play was a quick screen to receiver Bobby Engram. He took it into the end zone. Two minutes into the game, the Gophers were a touchdown in arrears.

A colleague turned to Roe, slapped him on the back and said: "Jon, it must feel as though you never have been away."

Jerry Zgoda was the Star Tribune's original beat writer for the Timberwolves. He left the beat in the spring of 1993.

The Wolves' record during those four formative seasons was 85-243. There were innumerable times when a playoff-caliber opponent would allow the Wolves to hang around for three quarters, then clamp down in the fourth and pull away for a victory.

Which makes this the time for a colleague to slap Zgoda on the back and say, "Jerry, it must feel as though you never have been away."

The brand-new Timberwolves opened the season Friday night. The opponents were the Denver Nuggets. "They are a team that expects to win between 55 and 60 games," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said before the game.

This is Wittman's first full season as the boss on the sideline. He went through 42 games of Hades last season, winning 12 times. The futility sent the Wolves into a frenetic few months when they unloaded Kevin Garnett, the franchise's long-standing live wire, and a huge load of dead wood.

The result was a team with 10 new bodies out of 15 and with nine players with three seasons of experience or less. In this mix, Wittman used 34-year-old veteran Theo Ratliff as his starting center, and he ignited a burst that had the Opening Night crowd cheering with unexpected delight.

For eight minutes, the Wolves were a sharpshooting, ball-moving, shot-blocking, ball-slapping revelation. They held a 23-12 lead after Rashad McCants hit a three-pointer.

McCants, healthy after a 2006-07 season ruined by knee surgery, came out firing from his two-guard position. He was so aggressive that he made an old NBA fan think of the 1960s battle cry of a guard named Dick Barnett:

"Fire and fall back."

The Wolves' lead was 52-49 at the half, and it still was three -- 77-74 -- entering the fourth quarter.

And that's when the reality of the NBA surfaced: Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby, Denver's marvelous trio of stars, combined for 22 points as the Nuggets outscored the Wolves 25-14.

There's more talent here than existed in the Wolves' early seasons, when the fourth-quarter fades were routine, but 25-14 stretch runs are going to be seen regularly as this quickly assembled outfit tries to survive in a Western Conference that has 10 very good teams.

The hope has to be that the Wolves are able to shake off the inevitable, numerous defeats and retain the physical edge that several players demonstrated.

Ratliff was sitting in a heap of ice packs after giving all he had for 29 combative minutes. Forward Al Jefferson fought through a constant double-team for 16 points and 13 rebounds.

And Greg Buckner, a veteran guard-forward picked up from Dallas for Trenton Hassell, gained the crowd's appreciation for the battle that he put up when guarding Denver's large, extra-talented Anthony.

There was a hard foul by Buckner to prevent a layup that Anthony did not seem to appreciate. There were two slap-aways from Anthony that forced turnovers.

There were also free-throw breaks when Buckner and Anthony seemed to be exchanging contentious words.

"Not at all," Buckner said. "I was in Denver for two years. Carmelo and I are the best of friends. During the offseason, we went to the gym and played ball every day."

Buckner paused. "Carmelo came up big in the fourth quarter," he said. "That's what great players do."

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays at AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com