The road is kinder to young Wolves

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: February 25, 2009 - 7:43 AM

TORONTO - The Timberwolves left Air Canada Centre late Tuesday still with a better record on the road than they own at home.

Why?

"I don't know why," Wolves forward Ryan Gomes said. "It should be reversed, of course."

The Wolves are 10-19 on the road after Tuesday's 118-110 loss to Toronto and 8-19 at home entering tonight's game against Utah at Target Center. That's a .345 winning percentage away and .296 at home.

Only Detroit, New Jersey and the Los Angeles Clippers also are better away than at home this season.

As with most things with the Wolves, perhaps one can attribute it to youth.

"Sometimes that's true for a young team, as weird as it sounds," veteran forward Mike Miller said. "A lot of it almost is that back-to-the-wall mentality. You're not supposed to win the game, so you come out a little more free and enjoy it. We've got to figure it out and find ways to protect our home court. Sometimes it's easier for a young team on the road because they don't have the pressure of being expected to win at home."

Wolves coach Kevin McHale knows one thing: He hasn't given the matter much thought.

"I don't know, I'm not sure if we do," McHale said when asked why his team plays better on the road. "Maybe a little bit, actually. We should have that us-against-the-world mentality at Target Center. I assume we should have that every time we step on the floor. I don't worry about that stuff too much."

First look

Rookie point guard Bobby Brown was the first of the two new Wolves to see action after Thursday's trade with Sacramento. McHale sent him into the game for five second-quarter minutes, when he scored two points on 1-for-3 shooting, with one assist.

Shelden Williams, the former top-five pick also obtained for Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth last week, did not play. McCants played 10 scoreless minutes in his Kings debut in Monday's home loss to New Orleans.

Under their skin

Wolves forward Brian Cardinal not only irritated Raptors All-Star Chris Bosh Tuesday night, he got the Toronto crowd irked, too.

Bosh and Cardinal both received technical fouls after Bosh became upset with Cardinal's physical defense late in the first quarter. When Cardinal returned to the game in the second quarter, those usually-polite Canadians booed him lustily.

It's all relative

When she first dated a future U.S. president, now First Lady Michelle Obama asked her brother to evaluate her new man during a pickup game of basketball. Craig Robinson, now the coach at Oregon State, gave his approval to the guy named Barack.

On Tuesday, Williams, the new Timberwolf, was asked if his wife, WNBA star Candace Parker, once asked her brother, Raptors guard Anthony Parker, to do the same.

"No, we've never really played any pickup games together," Williams said, puzzled by the question. "We just goof around a lot together."

Oh, Canada

McHale returned to his favorite Canadian province Tuesday. "I love Ontario, but usually I'm way, way west of here," said McHale, who once owned a vacation place on Lake of the Woods that borders Minnesota and Ontario. "That's where I used to do all my fishing."

Recent Timberwolves stories

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar glad he went public with leukemia diagnosis - February 25, 2009

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar glad he went public with leukemia diagnosis - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is glad he went public about being treated for a rare form of leukemia because it has given him a chance to reconnect with people. More