Big Al's big return features refined 'triangle' jump shot

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 5, 2009 - 7:17 AM

MANKATO - Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson played his first game in eight months Sunday in Mankato and delivered a typically efficient performance in 16 minutes of action before he reluctantly sat his aching body and healing knee down for the night.

But on a night when his team debuted a new coach, a new offense and eight new players, this was anything but a typical performance. A man with some of the game's best low-post moves delivered a 14-point night on 6-for-8 shooting not so much with his many gyrations underneath the basket -- but with a refined jump shot created by portions of the mysterious "triangle" offense installed quickly by coach Kurt Rambis.

"Ever since I heard that triangle offense was coming, I've been working on that jumper," said Jefferson, who had three rebounds, an assist, a blocked shot, a turnover and three fouls before leaving the game at halftime. "If you watched the Bulls and the Lakers when they ran the triangle, they always had a big man who could hit that jumper, besides Shaq [O'Neal]. Those jumpers should be wide open for me."

Jefferson called his return "pretty good" and said he could have played in the second half, but the training staff advised Rambis to play Jefferson and Corey Brewer only for the first half in their returns from knee surgeries.

"My thighs are sore and my lungs were a little suspect," Jefferson said, "but my knee was fine."

Reunited

Newcomer Ramon Sessions faced his former team in his first game as a Timberwolf.

"It was a little different," said Sessions, who signed a four-year, $16 million offer sheet last month that the Bucks didn't match. "That's where I started my career, that's where I still have a lot of friends. I don't have a bad thing to say about that organization. They gave me my chance."

Sessions had nine points, six rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes off the bench behind starting point guard Jonny Flynn. He also had six of the Wolves' 25 turnovers.

"That's nothing," he said. "It's still early, really early. A lot of them were offensive fouls, anyway."

Play on

Rambis has instructed his players to ignore the officiating and play on, whether the NBA is using replacement refs, as they are to start the preseason, or the veteran ones.

"You don't want them to stop, whine or whatever," he said. "Just keep playing. You can't hold onto what happened in the past. You have to let that go and play in the moment. That has been the message of training camp and will continue to be."

Going home

The Wolves boarded a Twin Cities-bound bus after the game. ... Forward Oleksiy Pecherov (fractured wrist) and guard Devin Green (hamstring) did not play.

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