Breuer returns, the Lakers visit, a memory surfaces

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: February 23, 2009 - 12:11 AM

The Timberwolves brought back Minnesota's own Randy Breuer all the way from his Eden Prairie home to commemorate on Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers the franchise's 20th anniversary season.

The confluence summoned what would be one of the team's most unforgettable moments if it hadn't been lost in the mists of time: that December night during the Wolves' second season when coach Bill Musselman assigned the 7-3 center to defend Lakers 6-9 superstar point guard Magic Johnson.

The Wolves lost by 10, but Musselman's unorthodox strategy first bemused Johnson, then left him with a 6-for-22 shooting performance on a night when Breuer played the entire game until he fouled out with eight seconds left.

At the time, Breuer said he thought he had slept right through to April Fool's Day when Musselman told him his mission. Eighteen years later, he still smiles in disbelief.

"I thought he was joking, I really did," Breuer said. "I sat back and said, 'Well, this won't last very long.' Thank goodness Magic missed a bunch of shots and it kept going that way. When I first went out there, I asked Magic not to laugh and he was like, 'Seriously, you're going to do this?' I told him it wasn't my choice."

New guys out

The Wolves activated newly acquired Bobby Brown for Sunday's game, but only so the rookie point guard could sit in uniform on the bench and learn the team's ways.

Brown and forward Shelden Williams did not practice Saturday because Thursday's trade with Sacramento was not completed until about four hours later, when the Kings finished physical examinations of Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth. They are expected to make their debuts Tuesday night against Toronto.

"It's vastly unfair not to have a guy practice and then throw him out in a game against the Lakers," McHale said. "I don't think that'd be a prudent thing to do."

Conspiracy theory

Lakers coach Phil Jackson has his own way of describing the new-look Wolves now that they're figuring out how to play without injured star Al Jefferson.

He calls them a "loose-net team," a reference to an NBA tactic of years past when home teams that wanted to run supposedly had loose nets through which the ball would speed so one of their players could grab it immediately after a made basket and get started back the other way.

"They want to get it to Telfair and Foye, get the ball up the court and find some shots," Jackson said.

Etc.

• Kobe Bryant moved past Elgin Baylor into 20th on the NBA's all-time scoring list with a third-quarter dunk. It made him third on the Lakers' all-time list, behind Jerry West and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

• The Wolves' 18 missed free throws -- they went 23-for-41 -- in Friday's home loss to Indiana set a franchise record, two more than the 16 the Wolves had missed three separate times.

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