First impression of new-look Wolves a bit depressing

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

Target Center fans got their first peek (barely) at Jason Hart and some other new Wolves on Friday against Reggie Evans, right, and the Toronto Raptors in the preseason home opener.

The Wolves made their Target Center preseason debut by getting trounced by Toronto.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 10, 2009 - 1:25 AM

If this were opening night, new Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis said he would be more alarmed about Friday's resounding loss and the first impression his team delivered at home.

Rather than be concerned, Rambis said he was merely "disappointed" with his team's lack of effort in a 112-97 loss to Toronto at Target Center.

"This is preseason," he said. "We're still trying things."

Yes, Al Jefferson played just 17 minutes before changing into street clothes at halftime in a measured effort to protect his healing right knee.

Yes, Rambis once again scripted playing time to ensure he wouldn't make personnel decisions based upon score or game situations, and nobody played more than 28 minutes.

But just two games into preseason play, Rambis already was talking about his team's effort -- or rather lack of it -- after the Raptors built leads of 10-3 after 95 seconds, 15-5 after 2 1/2 minutes and 37-14 after a quarter.

"There's no excuse for an effort like that," Kevin Love said.

Afterward, Rambis spent extra time with his players in the locker room.

"I'm disappointed, not necessarily at the loss but with the effort our guys put out there," Rambis said. "I wasn't too happy with how we started the game, and I was disappointed how we ended the game. We allowed them to run the clock out. That's a learning moment for the players.

"They cannot stop playing hard. That was the message. We were outplayed from the beginning of the ballgame."

Raptors star forward Chris Bosh, making his preseason debut after missing the first two games because of an injured hamstring, and Andrea Bargnani, the top pick in the 2006 draft who is starting to play like it, made sure of that.

Rambis left Jefferson alone to defend Bosh at the game's start. Then when Bosh took a breather while playing just 11 minutes (nine points, seven rebounds), he left Jefferson alone defensively against Raptors reserve Reggie Evans.

Bosh took Jefferson outside, Evans took him inside.

"Chris Bosh is a heck of a cover," Rambis said. "I challenged Al knowing it was difficult for him, covering somebody who could score outside. I wasn't going to support him with double teams. I allowed him to see if he could defend guys on his own. Defending by himself is a learning experience for him."

Turns out, defending was a learning experience for all Wolves at just about any juncture Friday night. The two teams tied 59-59 in the second half, but by then the Raptors already had a 53-38 lead after shooting 68 percent (15-for-22) in the first quarter alone.

Corey Brewer led the Wolves with three steals and 16 points, but he needed 14 shots (4-for-14) to do it. Jonny Flynn learned early in his pro career that there are going to be nights like this with a performance that didn't gather any steam until the fourth quarter, and by then it was far too late.

An announced audience of 8,822 came to see these new Wolves for the first time, but you couldn't blame most of them for paying more attention to their Blackberrys and the score of the Twins game.

"We're still looking at different lineups, substitutions, matchups," Rambis said. "I can take losing. I can take another team being better than us. We're going to be outmatched a lot of nights, but it shouldn't be where effort hurts us."

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