Calling on Darko!: Wolves at Clippers tonight

Good afternoon from Los Angeles and Staples Center...

You haven't heard a whole lot from him since the last time he shined so bright in L.A., but Darko! will get his chance tonight against the Clippers and Wednesday night against the Lakers at Staples Center.

Darko! had his most memorable night of the season -- granted, that's not saying a whole lot -- the last time the Wolves played the Clippers here.

Everybody remembers Kevin Love's winning three at the buzzer that beat the Clippers last month on an ESPN Friday night game, but...

Do you recall Darko!'s 34-minute, 22-point, 7-rebound, 2-block night before he fouled out while pursuing his assignment of hounding Blake Griffin all night?

He has played 36 minutes in all of February because of a litany of injuries and Adelman's decisions.

"You hope that happens again," Adelman said of the game Darko! had in here the last time. "He'll definitely have an opportunity against these guys and against the Lakers."

* Nikola Pekovic says the sprained ankle he sustained last week is all better and he feels terrific after getting four very needed days of rest.

"I feel really great because we have a couple days off," he said. "I try to use it for rest, try to do nothing. It was perfect. In the right time, in the right time."

Funny what five weeks' time will do, huh?

Last time the Wolves played here in January, Pekovic played just 11 minutes off the bench against the Clippers.

Now Sports Illustrated was here at shootaround working on a piece on him.

For more from Pek, here's a video interview I did with him after the Wolves ended their All-Star break by practicing at USC on Monday evening.

Find it here.

* Signs that these indeed are new Wolves: Sports Illustrated already has been around twice this season and the New Yorker magazine is working on a Ricky Rubio piece.

* Btw, Rubio said at this morning's shootaround that he got to meet Steve Nash for the first time in Orlando. He'll get a better chance to meet him Thursday, when the Wolves complete their second and final three games-in-three nights.

He'll also get his first chance to see Chris Paul up close tonight. Paul missed that game here in January because of hamstring.

"Yes, but I play against him in Olympic games and I know him," Rubio said. "He's a tough guy. He knows how to play. He's the key of this team."

* Love said he learned the most about being an All Star and a true professional by watching Dirk Nowitzki at the game in L.A. last year and by watching Chris Paul this year.

* I didn't even see it, but Love sure did: The USC practice gym has huge photos at one end of the court. In one of them, Love is getting dunked all over on by Trojan forward Davon Jefferson.

Rubio saw it, too.

He tweeted a photo of it and asked Love, "What do u think about it?"

At shoot today, Love asked Brad Miller seated next to him how that compared to the Taj Gibson dunk over Dwyane Wade from years past and Miller deemed it more embarrassing that what Wade experience because Love clearly is trying to jump to block Jefferson's shot and still got posterized anyway.

That's all from L.A. for now.