Lineup change proves minor after 'soul-searching' session

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: December 31, 2007 - 11:57 PM

LOS ANGELES - That attention-grabbing shakeup Wolves coach Randy Wittman said he would contemplate after Saturday's blowout loss in Seattle resulted in a minor lineup modification and an understanding approach for Monday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Wittman inserted center Michael Doleac as a starter for rookie Chris Richard, hoping Doleac's veteran presence and bigger body would slow Clippers center Chris Kaman and help stabilize a team that started a five-game road trip in New Orleans and took four consecutive losses into the game against the Clippers.

"I don't think it makes any sense at this point to drastically change the lineup," Wittman said. "I don't think that will make things any better. I'd be concerned if we started the game down 20 right from the beginning. We were up nine points [after the first quarter Saturday] and played a really, really good quarter."

Wittman gathered his team on the bus outside its hotel on Sunday afternoon intending to practice at the Clippers' training facility, and the bus never made it out of the parking lot after a speech and team talk that Wittman termed "some soul-searching."

"We did some good things," he said, referring to the topics discussed, "so we'll see."

Wittman then called off practice, and players had the rest of Sunday to themselves. Monday's shootaround was shorter than usual as well, partly because of an early tip-off.

"It's not always necessarily physical," Wittman said. "It's mental, too. Sometimes you just need to get away." Monday's game ended a December in which the Wolves played 11 of 16 games on the road and finished a four-game West Coast swing that began Wednesday at Golden State.

"I don't know, one of those instinctive things," Wittman said when asked why he went with a gentle approach. "I don't know what's right or wrong. Instincts told me were on the road a lot in December and this was the right thing to do."

The Wolves will fly back to Minnesota this morning. The players spent New Year's Eve in Los Angeles.

Etc.

• Former Wolves guard Sam Cassell started his second consecutive game for the Clippers in his fourth game back after missing more than three weeks because of a strained left calf. Marko Jaric, acquired from the Clippers in the trade that sent Cassell to Los Angeles in August 2005, came off the bench for the Wolves in his fourth consecutive game back after he missed three games with the flu.

• Randy Foye will have his injured kneecap tested again Monday. "We're hoping this next one is the all-clear," Wittman said of the second-year guard who has been sidelined since October because of a developing crack on his kneecap.

• Monday's game featured two of the league leaders in double-double games: The Clippers' Kaman entered the game third in the NBA in those double-digit games in two categories with 23, and Wolves forward Al Jefferson was fourth with 21. Both of them improved, Kaman getting 16 points and 16 rebounds and Jefferson getting 23 points and 15 rebounds.

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