Reserve Buckner supplies a lift, and lesson, in Wolves loss

Greg Buckner was the perfect tool to school his teammates -- even Al Jefferson, who scored 40 in the Wolves' loss.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: April 9, 2008 - 12:02 AM

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CHARLOTTE 121, WOLVES 119

Up next: New Orleans at 7 p.m. today • Target Center • TV: FSN (106.1/107.5-FM)

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Greg Buckner lives.

He plays, too, as the Timberwolves' 121-119 loss to Charlotte on Tuesday night at freshly named Time Warner Cable Arena illustrated remarkably.

The nine-year veteran, who has been stuck to the bench since January, played 31 minutes, the most he's played since Nov. 9 against the Lakers when he saw 37 minutes of action.

The Wolves fell behind 32-15 in the first quarter, and coach Randy Wittman summoned Buckner to teach his young team a lesson in professionalism and preparedness.

"I didn't feel like, at the start of the game, that we cared too much about playing," Wittman said.

So sixth man Rashad McCants committed two fouls in three first-quarter minutes during his return home to North Carolina and sat the rest of the night while Buckner played on and on and Wittman waited for star center Al Jefferson to rouse himself after halftime.

Trailing by 13 points in the third quarter's final minute, the Wolves revived themselves with a 34-27 burst in a fourth quarter when they pulled within a point with 13 seconds remaining but failed to score in two final possessions.

Buckner played the entire fourth quarter and Jefferson supplied 29 of his 40 points -- which tied a career high -- after halftime.

"Greg Buckner, he was the reason why we had the chance to win tonight," Wittman said. "Nobody else. He hadn't played in a couple of months and he didn't mope. We called and he was ready to play. Our young guys should learn a lesson from that. We're not going to let guys go out and play with no effort or purpose."

After the game, Buckner said he wondered whether he was going to play another minute this season.

"I didn't see this coming at all," said Buckner, who hadn't played since the last time these two teams played, on March 4 at Target Center. "Luckily, we weren't playing Phoenix. There's definitely a burning [in his lungs] in a game like that."

McCants sat and Kirk Snyder played only five minutes because Wittman said he wanted to ride Buckner's energy, which helped the Wolves rally from an 18-point, second-quarter deficit.

"He played defense, he played hard," Wittman said. "He shared the ball. He made plays. It wasn't anything more than that."

When asked what McCants didn't do, Wittman said, "He knows. You can ask him." McCants was one of the first players to leave the Wolves' locker room after the game and did not speak with reporters.

Wittman called Jefferson's first-quarter play when Bobcats center Nazr Mohammed scored nine points in eight minutes "going through the motions."

"He got embarrassed a little bit and then he woke up and played pretty hard," Wittman said.

The Wolves pulled within 120-119 on Jefferson's final points of the night with 15.2 seconds. Twice in the final 1.4 seconds, they had a chance to lead or tie. Randy Foye's pass off a pick-n-roll was behind Jefferson and went off his hands out of bounds. When the Wolves had a last-gasp chance with .7 seconds left, Jefferson's jumper missed.

"We should have scored on both of them," Wittman said. "We just didn't finish the plays. That's how you win games like that, by making plays down the stretch."

Notes

• New York won its 22nd game, which means the 19-victory Wolves probably won't finish any worse than having the fourth-best chance in the May draft lottery. They trail Memphis by two victories and lead Seattle by one. Miami (14 victories) is a lock for the most lottery chances.

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