Of all the comments from Timberwolves players and coaches following Wednesday night’s 102-96 victory over the Sixers, which snapped a horrifying eight game losing streak, the best was the most succinct: “Winning is fun,” said Randy Foye. That is true. Is it possible to be glowing with relief? Foye was glowing with relief. The funny thing about all of the post-game banter was the retrospective positive interpretation put on the game, as if the Wolves’ emergence from their three-week nightmare of squandered leads was the result of some overnight change in the team’s performance…
Love went 2 for 6 and scored nine points Wednesday night.
Preparing for the impending arctic freeze presents another challenge for Love, who grew up in Oregon and spent last season in sunny southern California. He said he is still searching for winter gear to fit his 6-foot-10, 265-pound frame.
“I went to the North Face store the other day, and they didn’t have anything that fit me,” he said. “Either it wasn’t long enough, the sleeves were six inches off my wrist, or the sleeves were too long and it came up past my belly button.”
Collins attended Newell’s camp during his first two seasons at Stanford. Love learned to use his body against his opponents by studying Newell’s big-man instructional videotapes that Love’s father, Stan, gave him. Wittman remembers Newell watching practice when Wittman played at Indiana under Knight, whom Newell mentored and coached.
“He was a great man,” Collins said. “Going to his camps was a tremendous learning experience. They gave me a tremendous amount of confidence. The great thing about the Newell camp is there were players from the pro and the collegiate levels together. The list of players who went there is so long. You knew it was a special place.”
Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman, asked how he’s holding up emotionally after his team’s poor start: “I sleep in a padded bedroom now.”
When the 76ers play the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight, they’ll see Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth on the other bench. They’ll know that Minnesota also has one of their future first-round draft picks.
The Sixers only have a conditional second-round pick to show for that July trade.

Yet Sixers president and general manager Ed Stefanski loves the deal because it enabled him to clear enough salary cap space to sign free agent Elton Brand from the Clippers…
“Minnesota got what they wanted from us, and we got what we wanted,” Stefanski said. “I’m happy for them, and I’m happy for us. Because of the cap situation, you have to make trades like that. For Minnesota, it was a very lucrative deal for them, but we had other issues.”