If Yogi Berra were still with us, he might say it's deja vu all...
Almost this time last year, the Philadelphia 76ers came to Target Center 0-17, one more loss shy of tying the NBA record for most consecutive losses to start a season and...beat the Timberwolves to end their streak.
Tonight, something's got to give: The Sixers come to town again, this time with an 0-14 record to start the season against a Wolves team that has started its season 0-6 at home and has lost 14 consecutive games at Target Center, dating to a March 7 victory over Portland last season.
It may be a similar sitaution but Sixers coach Brett Brown doesn't consider it a benefit to have done this once before.
"To say I don't remember it would not be true," he said after his team's shootaround this morning, "but how many new guys do I have in that locker room? I don't see it having any bearing whatsoever."
The Sixers have competed hard against Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Dallas in recent days and Miami needed a 20-3 run to end Saturday's game to beat them by five points.
Philadelphia now has lost 24 consecutive games, if you go back to a 10-game losing streak that ended last season.
That's two losses from tying Cleveland's all-time NBA record.
"We definitely don't want that again," Wolves forward Shabazz Muhammad said, remembering last season's loss. "That wasn't good. We really didn't like that after the game. We had a good shootaround, everyone paying attention to detail. We really have to go out there and give it our all."
Tonight's game is the first one in which Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell says he'll move Kevin Martin into Tayshaun Prince's spot in the starting lineup and expand Muhammad's minutes off the bench.
Both moves are intended to jump start an offense that stagnated with defensive specialists Prince and Kevin Garnett in the starting lineup.
Tonight's game also unites the top two big men in last summer's draft and it brings together longtime pals Okafor and Wolves rookie Tyus Jones, who played together at Duke for one season (and won a national championship together) because of their friendship.
Okafor hung out and played video games with Jones at his place downtown Sunday night before tonight's game.
"Nothing really revolving around basketball," Okafor said when asked what they did and talked about. :"He's my best friend. We talk about everything."
