Foe finally takes flight

There was no coming back for the Wolves after LeBron James and the Cavs began their first-half roll.

By JERRY ZGODA, Star Tribune

Last update: October 31, 2009 - 12:39 AM

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CLEVELAND 104, WOLVES 87

Up next: 7 p.m. Sunday at Phoenix • US Airways Center • TV: FSN (107.9-FM)

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The Timberwolves conjured magic in their season opener on Wednesday, when they recovered from 16 points behind with fewer than seven minutes left to beat New Jersey on Damien Wilkins' buzzer beater.

Of course, LeBron James wasn't in the house that night.

Neither was Shaquille O'Neal nor the Cleveland Cavaliers, who on Friday received what TNT analyst Charles Barkley called the perfect "elixir" for their unexpected 0-2 season start:

A date with a Timberwolves team that hadn't beaten them since November 2005 and still hasn't, not after the Cavs won 104-87 at Target Center on a night when any fourth-quarter theatrics by the Wolves were clearly out of the question.

The Wolves are 1-1 after two games, but those games have demonstrated they still struggle to grasp the many elements of the unorthodox "triangle" offense coach Kurt Rambis brought with him from the Lakers and installed here.

On Wednesday, no Wolves player had more than two assists. On Friday, they didn't have one with more than three.

"We're still learning how to play," Rambis said after his team trailed by 10 points in the first quarter, by 13 in the second, 17 in the third and 21 in the fourth. "We're going to struggle as a ballclub. Nothing is going to come easy. We try to get this across to our team: We need to be a high-energy, highly active, highly competitive team.

"We're not just going to be able to come out and slap our talent on the floor and expect to win ballgames. We're going to get down and get our hands dirty. It's not a one-quarter thing. It's not a one-half thing. It's got to be a 48-minute thing."

The Cavs can slap their talent on the floor and win. That's what they did Friday, when James delivered before a sellout crowd announced at 19,356 fans -- the first at Target Center since March 30, 2008, against Utah -- a typically dominant performance.

His 24-point, nine-rebound, six-assist night include a three-point from beyond downtown, a couple of no-look passes that left his opponent's fans atwitter and a soaring dunk that would have posterized defender Corey Brewer if James hadn't soared right out of the camera frame.

"We just couldn't get connected offensively," Rambis said. "They're so talented and they put so much pressure on you with their unique individuals."

Wolves rookie Jonny Flynn discovered that by playing against James, whom he called a "living legend," and O'Neal for the first time.

"I thought he was going to send me into the first row," Flynn said of his first collision with O'Neal. "I was kind of nervous going in there. My eyes got big, like a freight train was coming."

Flynn has led the Wolves in scoring each of the first two games while Al Jefferson hasn't yet found his legs or timing in his return from a season-ending knee injury last February.

Rambis received permission from the team's medical staff to bump up Jefferson's minutes Friday, but he played just about the same 25 minutes he played in the opener.

Afterward, Rambis said Jefferson seemed a "little frustrated" coming back from the knee injury and an Achilles' tendon that flared last week.

"My timing is still not there," said Jefferson, who made five of 14 shots, scored 12 points and added eight rebounds and three assists. "Every shot I took tonight, I've made those shots before. I didn't make them tonight."