Anthony Tolliver has been cleared to play tonight against Cleveland and No. 1 overall pick Kyrie Irving after taking that nasty spill the other night against Memphis.

J.J. Barea, however, will miss his third consecutive game because of that hamstring he injured at Milwaukee in the season's second game.

Tolliver got undercut while reaching high for a ball and came somersaulting down, landing hard on his wrist as he tried to break his fall and then thumping down flat on his lower back and "upper butt" area on Wednesday night

He said he awoke Thursday morning feeling "not good, not all good at all."

"When I went to bed, I thought I was going to feel worse than I did when I woke up," he said. "But I did feel better than the night before. Every day the last two days has felt better and better. Hopefully it's something that doesn't stick around too long."

Rick Adelman has relied upon Tolliver in fourth quarters, asking him to defend LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki, among others.

I asked him at this morning's shootaround if the fall looked better or worse than it felt when he watched it again on replay.

"When it actually happened, I thought i was going to die so it was probably a little bit better than I orginally thought," he said. "When you're up in the air and then you legs come out from underneath you, you don't know what's going to happen the next couple seconds. So that was a pretty scary feeling. Luckily nothing happened, just some little bumps and bruises that hopefully will go away in the next few days."

Barea remains out for a game tonight that will feature last summer's top two draft picks, Irving and No. 2 Derrick Williams.

"I hate to be out, but I've just got to be patient with it and make sure it's ready," he said. "Take it easy. It feels really good, though, but I'm going to be patient. Maybe Sunday or Monday."
The Wolves play three games in three days -- at Washington, at Toronto, Chicago at home -- starting on Sunday.

Asked if he could possibly play three games in three days at this point, he said, "I don't know. That's something we're going to have to talk and think about and see what happens."

Btw, Martell Webster looks like he's doing more and more working out solo on the court, but the team has set no timetable yet for his return from September back surgery.

Nikola Pekovic says he's been ready to play since Sunday.

"I'm fine, I feel good," he said. "If I'm going to play, that's not my decision."

One other thing...

Here's another sign how things are changing at 600 First Ave. N.:

Fans nationally actually want to see this team play now.

The Wolves-Bulls and Phoenix-L.A. Lakers were the two games chosen by fan balloting for Tuesday's "Fan Night" doubleheader on NBA TV.

The Suns-Lakers -- the doubleheader's second half -- got 29 percent of fan voting among five game choices.

The Wolves-Bulls game got 26 percent.