Wolves: New kids take a knock

In perhaps a prelude to their season, the reconstructed Timberwolves discovered in Friday's opener at Target Center that energy and emotion provide for three quarters, but talent and experience trump all in those final 12 minutes.

A 99-91 loss to Denver proved as much.

The Wolves nursed a quick 13-point lead all the way into the final quarter before the Nuggets, aimed this season at 60 victories and a long playoff run, outscored them 25-14. A telling 11-2 burst midway through the fourth quarter featured veterans Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, all of whom were in the league before six of 10 Timberwolves who appeared Friday ever played a NBA game.

"It's a man's game, a man's league," Wolves guard Rashad McCants said. "You have to be professional in the fourth quarter."

McCants scored 23 points for a team that averaged 22 turnovers in their preseason games, but with Sebastian Telfair starting at point guard committed only 12 on Friday. The Wolves were outdistanced when it mattered most by a Denver team that reached the free-throw line exactly twice as often as they did.

The Nuggets shot 38 free throws and made 28 of them. The Wolves shot 19 and made 14. Iverson made more than that himself, going 15-for-16 from the line.

Anthony, the fifth-year forward who appears prepared for superstardom, led everybody with 33 points, 22 of them after halftime. Camby's 14-point, 21-rebound, six-block night included a crucial tip-in basket with 1:15 remaining, repelling a late Wolves rally got them within three points. Iverson had 24 points, eight assists and set the tone all evening with his parade to the foul line.

"This team is going to have to earn the respect of the officials, other teams," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said, trying to explain the free-throw disparity. "I thought we went to the basket just as hard as they did. We can't stop going to the basket We will get those calls."

The Nuggets scored the game's first four points. The Wolves scored 19 of the next 21 on a night when you could have forgiven Denver coach George Karl for that blank pregame stare when he was asked what he expected from the evening's opponent.

"Who the hell is going to start?" he asked.

Two nights earlier, the Nuggets opened their season at home against a Seattle team that, just like the Timberwolves, completely remade itself with youth last summer by trading Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis.

Karl said he told his team the same thing before both games, even though he knew relatively little about each team's personnel.

"I told them, 'They're good enough to beat you because they'll play with emotion,'" he said. "Emotion and hustle wins a lot of basketball games."

That the Wolves did with a boisterous start, when veteran Theo Ratliff provided the defensive pulse and McCants and newcomers Ryan Gomes and Telfair offered the offensive energy. It took about four minutes for an announced sellout crowd that included 5,000 tickets bought by the Target to stand and cheer.

"That was one of those things where you don't have to call plays, we just played basketball," Wittman said. "Now we've got to make that stretch longer."

The Nuggets reduced that early 19-6 lead to just three points by halftime and tied the score for the first time since the opening minutes with just less than nine minutes left in the game.

Trailing 82-81 with 7:42 left, the Nuggets produced that game-determining 11-2 that featuring Anthony's scoring, Camby's rebounding and defense and Iverson's nerve.

"We're tired of hearing the young thing," said Telfair, who started for injured Randy Foye. "But down the stretch, that's one of those things we have to get together so people don't call us young."

Jerry Zgoda • jzgoda@startribune.com