Guard Rashad McCants, the Wolves’
second-leading scorer averaging 14.4 points per game, surprised the
team when he reported for duty Friday night despite a sore right knee.
He took part in the warm-up but was scratched from the lineup just before tip-off .
It was only the start of trouble in the Minnesota backcourt.
Marko Jaric sprained his right ankle in the first
quarter and was lost for the last three quarters.
Ratliff, who missed his seventh consecutive game on Friday, received a third opinion on his right knee when the team was in Dallas on Wednesday. The doctor who previously had worked with Houston star Tracy McGrady recommended a treatment and exercise program to tighten Ratliff’s knee ligaments and hamstring muscle in an attempt to stop the popping he feels in his knee when he walks and runs.
 
Ratliff said he is hopeful he will be able to return to action without
needing exploratory arthroscopic surgery to determine the injury and
fix the knee.
 
Also from Zgoda:
Wolves coach Randy Wittman said the team will consider in the
next week whether to send rookie forward Chris Richard, who had not
played in seven of the team’s first 13 games, to the NBA Development
League. 
 
 
 
In the latest installment of the Rhino Diaries, Craig Smith talks about the good times on the plane ride after their win in New Orleans:
Example: Corey said something — I forgot what was said — but someone
came out to say he sounded and looked like Norbit. Me and Al have
nicknames for each other too, and I called him Big Perm off the movie
"Friday," played by Faison Love, cuz his hair looks like he has a perm
in it. He calls me Big Dukie, not because of anything nasty with that
word, just because there was a guy in "Kid N Play’s House Party 3" that
was big and buff and went by the name Big Dukie.
 
 
From The Pacifist Viking – "Mark Madsen is a bad basketball player."