Click here for the forum’s thread for tonight’s game against Sacramento
Game previews:
Here’s to hoping your holiday is happy and not too stressful. Here’s also hoping that some kids (whom might go without the joy and happiness of getting a toy or presents this holiday season) are surprised by the generosity of others. Because for the fifth consecutive year, the Timberwolves FastBreak Foundation and the Minnesota Adoption Resource Network (MARN) are partnering to provide a holiday shopping spree for children who are waiting to be adopted. Each child will be invited to have lunch at the Melting Pot restaurant in Minneapolis today. Afterwards, Timberwolves players will surprise the kids by taking them on a holiday shopping spree at the Downtown Minneapolis Target store.

Ryan Gomes sat out of practice, his sprained left ankle still bothering him, but stayed late to work on his shooting with coach Reggie Theus. He won’t play tonight, and his status beyond that is iffy. But if there’s a game Gomes would like to be in uniform for, one would have to assume the Wolves’ annual game at Boston – which comes up this Sunday night – would be it, considering he spent his first two NBA seasons with the Celtics.
“What Damien said was the truth,” Wolves forward Al Jefferson said. “We didn’t play with the same attitude we had at Utah. We relaxed against the Clippers. You can’t do that and expect to win. The next game we make the changes and start from there.”

Wilkins has emerged as a leader on the team. He is one of three players on the roster with more than five years of NBA experience. The other two — forward Brian Cardinal and guard Jason Hart — are on the inactive list. After speaking up on occasions, Wilkins said some teammates later told him “we needed to hear that.”

“He was just like me; he likes to have fun, clown around a lot,” Flynn recalled. “When you have the same personality, you can get close to them right away.”
The pair remained friendly through their college years, and “I got in touch with Jonny right away when I found out we drafted him” last June, Love said. “We got together this summer to work on our game.”

Those pre-training camp pickup games convinced them that their skills worked well together — particularly on Minnesota’s fast break, which incorporates both of their specialties.

He has one of the youngest teams in the NBA, which means Rambis will have his patience tested.

But the good thing is Rambis, 51, is up to the task.

“I’ve worked with so many young ballplayers that I know how long it takes for them to learn skills and to develop their habit, to break old habits,” Rambis said. “It takes a long time. I have a whole team of guys like that.

Sons of Timberwolves director of scouting/administration Rob Babcock will face each other when Michigan State plays at Texas next Tuesday. Nate Babcock is a graduate assistant at Michigan State while Chris Babcock is a graduate assistant at Texas. The brothers played basketball at Armstrong High School.