Love ignores painful thumb and plays

LOS ANGELES — As hard as it might be to fathom ... Timberwolves two-time All-Star forward Kevin Love played against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

"Believe it," he said before Friday's game.

Love missed the past two games the two teams played -- sidelined by the flu at Staples Center last month and by back spasms at Target Center last week -- and his availability for Friday's game was in doubt again after he injured his thumb Thursday night at Utah.

Love came to the bench at the end of Thursday's third quarter clutching his thumb in pain. He returned midway through the fourth quarter and played the rest of the game, including overtime in a 111-105 loss, with that thumb taped.

X-rays taken after the game were normal and he started Friday night and played without the thumb taped because he didn't like how it affected his shooting Thursday.

"I was a little concerned about that," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said about watching Love land hard on that thumb. "I wasn't sure if he had just jammed it or what. At this stage, he's not someone you'd like to lose."

Especially six days after Ricky Rubio was lost for the season because a torn knee ligament, which will be repaired Wednesday in Vail, Colo., by renowned knee surgeon Richard Steadman.

The truth comes outWhat was Wolves forward Michael Beasley doing in those final minutes before Thursday's trade deadline when his fate was decided and the Wolves turned down a trade offer that would have sent him to the Lakers?

"I know exactly what I was doing: I watching Fanboy and Chum Chum, eating pizza, French fries and lemonade," he said, referring to a Nickelodeon cartoon and some of his favorite foods.

Beasley missed his second consecutive game Friday because of an injured toe sustained Monday in Phoenix. He said he expects to play Sunday at Sacramento.

If Beasley was going to get traded, the only place he really wanted to go was the Lakers.

Well, like, who wouldn't?

Don't prick Pek Here's a word of advice: If you ever think about asking a guy who has a bed of skulls tattooed on his arm about a gift from the heavens that he turned into a crucial putback basket ... don't.

Somebody did that after Wolves center Nikola Pekovic turned Luke Ridnour's three-point airball into a layup that tied Thursday's game at Utah with 0.7 seconds and sent it to overtime when Paul Millsap missed a wide-open layup at the buzzer.

Usually smiley, Pekovic turned prickly at the question.

"A gift?" he asked. "You think that was a gift? A gift? I know, but I was fighting for position for, like, 20 seconds."

Moving on Now that Thursday's NBA trade deadline has passed, players can go back to work owning some peace of mind about their futures. The coach, too, can go forward.