wolves/nba
Returning players force some juggling in the lineup
- Article by: KENT YOUNGBLOOD , Star Tribune
- Updated: January 27, 2012 - 11:50 PM
Coach Rick Adelman is struggling with working in the new players without any practice time.
Michael Beasley, center, returned to the Wolves lineup against the Spurs on Friday.
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The Timberwolves took a few more steps toward full health Friday.
After missing 11 games because of a mid-foot sprain, forward Michael Beasley returned. He came off the bench to score seven points in 21 1/2 minutes. Shooting guard Martell Webster, who had microdiscectomy surgery in the offseason, played for the first time, scoring three points in 6 minutes.
Their return -- especially Beasley's --had a positive impact on the rotation in at least one respect. Kevin Love played less than 40 minutes for the first time in three games.
"It's great," Love said. "Last game we only had seven, eight healthy players. To have everybody, for the most part, it helps our depth. You can limit guys' minutes, and in a good way."
Center Brad Miller, coming back from knee surgery, was available to play but didn't. Forward Anthony Tolliver (wrist) was also available but did not play. Still on the mend are guard J.J. Barea (hamstring) and Malcolm Lee (knee).
Before the game Wolves coach Rick Adelman said he didn't know how he would fit the new players into the mix, seeing as he hadn't had them go through a full practice with the team this season.
"They're all available," he said of Beasley, Miller and Webster, "I don't know how I'm going to use them."
Beasley was a little rusty, making just three of 11 shots. Webster showed some jump, actually overjumping an attempted dunk at one point. And he said his back felt good after the game.
The biggest question is how the rotation will change as players get healthy. Friday Beasley took minutes from Tolliver and pushed rookie Derrick Williams back into the power forward role much of the time. Webster returning means he will compete with Wayne Ellington and Wes Johnson for minutes.
"It will help our whole team," Williams said. "It gives us more depth, more rebounds, more points.''
Point guard Luke Ridnour returned to the starting lineup after missing a game because of a sore knee.
Cool reception to treatmentIf you follow Love on Twitter, you got word from Dallas about a new form of treatment Love and a few of his teammates tried.
Love and seven of his teammates tried cryotherapy, a treatment that takes the concept of icing down to a whole new level. It's basically an extension of the ice bath idea. They did it at Cryo USA at the Texas Sports Medicine Center.
Players go into a cryogenic chamber for a short time -- usually three minutes. Then the chamber is cooled, usually with liquid nitrogen, down past minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit. The treatment can lower skin temperature dramatically.
"It's tough," Love said. "But I guess your body temperature rises to like 104, 105 degrees for 10 seconds [after treatment], so you actually feel really great and refreshed when you get out of there."
The treatment can release endorphins that provide pain relief in a patient, results that can last some time, perhaps weeks.
Love spent a little time Friday suggesting the Wolves might want to buy one of the chambers. Then he was asked if, having just signed his contract extension, he might buy one. "I'll wait," he joked. "We'll see if the Timberwolves [get one]."
Etc.• Barea was sporting the championship ring he got in Dallas Wednesday. But Adelman said he didn't want Barea wearing the huge ring -- which Barea said cost $51,000 -- for fear the guard would pull his other hamstring.
• Nikola Pekovic started at center because Darko Milicic was ill and did not play.
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