Patrick Reusse: Veteran Walker is crucial to first Wolves' victory

The Sacramento Kings called a timeout with 3 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in Wednesday night's game at Target Center. The Timberwolves were leading 91-87 and threatening to gain the first victory of the post-Kevin Garnett era.

The drama was so thick that scores of fans used this stoppage to head for the exits -- again proving that Minnesotans are uniquely determined to leave early and beat the crowd, even when there isn't a crowd.

The lower bowl at Target Center was 40 percent empty and the upper level was sparsely populated as the Wolves returned to their home court after an eight-day absence with a 0-5 record.

The announced crowd of 11,656 was generous by a couple of thousand, but those that remained to the finish also were generous in their cheers as these new Wolves got their first victory -- 108-103.

Four days earlier, the Kings defeated the Wolves 100-93. It was a game in which Sacramento's Ron Artest was sitting out a season-opening, seven-game suspension and Wolves coach Randy Wittman chose to give no minutes to Antoine Walker.

On Wednesday night, those veteran forwards were pivotal characters in a second half that went to the Wolves by 63-55.

"Artest and I have played against each other a lot of nights," Walker said. "We've always had good battles, but he got the best of me tonight."

Wittman and the rest of the Wolves didn't agree. Artest scored 17 points and had three rebounds in 37 minutes. Walker scored 19 points and had four rebounds in 29 minutes.

The Wolves will take that standoff against the multitalented Artest in any matchup with the Kings. Then again, these teams don't play again until March 7, and by then, Artest and Walker figure to have been moved to playoff contenders.

This is Walker's 12th NBA season and already it has been difficult. First, Miami coach Pat Riley decided to ridicule Walker during training camp for being out of shape.

The rumors out of south Florida were that Riley actually was upset at Shaquille O'Neal, but he didn't have the guts to take on Shaq, so he specifically mentioned Walker when reprimanding his veterans.

The Wolves took Walker in order to get rid of two headaches -- Ricky Davis and Mark Blount -- and discovered he actually was carrying less weight than in recent seasons.

"I came in here on the last day of training camp," Walker said. "You don't know the players, the coaches ... you don't know the plays. It's tough."

Walker played 51 minutes in the Wolves' first four games, shot 23.8 percent and totaled 14 points. The result was that Walker had the first DNP-CD (did not play-coach's decision) of his career on Saturday in Sacramento.

On Monday, he expressed " confusion" over his role, and that led to Walker being ridiculed in the Twin Cities media. He was being labeled a troublemaker, even though he merely was answering a Star Tribune reporter's question.

Asked after Wednesday's game about Monday's comments, Walker said: "I do understand what the coach is going through. I'm coming in late, I'm not 100 percent on the plays, and he has a lot of young guys on this team who deserve a chance to play.

"There's no problem here. I just want to contribute, help this young team win games."

Craig Smith had been the first big man off the bench behind Al Jefferson and Theo Ratliff. Smith was out because of an injury on Wednesday, so Walker entered for Ratliff with 2:43 remaining in the first quarter. He played the rest of the half, and then 15 more minutes in the second half.

When he came here, the allegation was Walker would merely stand outside the line and rifle three-pointers. He did some of that Wednesday, but more often, he ducked his head and went crashing toward the basket.

"Getting inside and drawing some fouls always has been part of my game -- except in Miami," Walker said. "With Shaq down low, they really didn't want you taking it inside.

"We had a lot of guys going to the basket tonight. That's why we shot more free throws ... why we won the game."

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