Newly signed Josh Howard made his Timberwolves debut Friday night.
He arrived, playing 14 minutes off the bench and even played some shooting guard in the second half but the Wolves still played without six of their top seven players and just got clobbered on the backboards 50-34 and points in the paint 58-22, including 48-6 at one point.
Here's the game story from Friday's game and there should be a postgame video package from Wolves' locker room imbedded by morning.
And here's the night's notebook with more stuff from Howard, J.J. Barea, Andrei Kirilenko, etc.
A couple real quick things:
* Howard impressed right away, grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring four quick points shortly after he entered the game and played the first six minutes of the second quarter. He fatigued some in the second half, making just 1 of 7 shots then while playing eight more minutes. He finished with six points on 3 for 10 shooting but even in that little dose looked lively enough to think he'll help this team, particularly until they get back to full health.
* Derrick Williams finally found some confidence, particuarly in his outside shot. He scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half, went 8-for-16 from the field, had seven rebounds and really gave the Wolves a boost in helping them build a 12-point, second-quarter lead.
* Alexey Shved gets more assertive by the game, it seems. Friday, he scored a career-high 22 points, took 17 shots (made eight), tied a career high with 7 assists and had the ball in his hands much of the fourth quarter.
