Lakers falter in the fourth quarter and fall to Timberwolves, 112-111

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers are playing their season opener on the National Basketball Association schedule on Wednesday and the game is on TV from ESPN and live on the WatchESPN website.

The Timberwolves also honored their coach with specially designed gray warm-up shirts with the word “WE” on the front and “Flip” across the heart. Team president and head coach Flip Saunders, who had previously served as head coach when Minnesota reached the Western Conference Finals in 2004, died on Sunday at the age of 60.

In a much-anticipated debut, D’Angelo Russell got off to an auspicious start in the first quarter taking just one shot attempt and was subbed out after picking up two early fouls.

Interim coach Sam Mitchell played for and spent last season as an assistant coach under Saunders.

Towns, on the other hand, impressed on his debut, amassing 14 points and grabbing 12 boards. “I know we’re young and inexperienced at times”.

He finished with four points on 2-of-7 shooting, including going 0-of-3 from 3-point range, and didn’t take the floor for the fourth quarter. Obviously the big thing fans will be excited to see his Kobe Bryant who could be playing in his last season opener.

Kevin Garnett, Tayshaun Prince, Andre Miller and Kevin Martin give Minnesota a combined 60 years of National Basketball Association experience.

“Even though he’s gone”, Rubio said, “he will stay with us”.

The Timberwolves are scheduled to open the season on Wednesday in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

Through all their exhibition contests, the Timberwolves exuded a reinvigorated aptitude for ball movement; the misdirection plays, swinging the ball from side to side, driving and kicking, bending the defense with spacing and penetration – attributes that are usually foreign to Wolves nation.

The Lakers must find an identity in order to have a successful season – and when I say successful season, I mean playoffs.

“I think we had a little help today”, Rubio said. It’s the first time the Pistons have been two games above.

Nick Young, who played for Saunders in Washington, said putting on the shirt was hard.

“It was his vision to start all this”, Zach LaVine said after Monday’s practice. The team hasn’t played in a post-season game since 2004.

“Lou got a good shot; that’s his shot”, Bryant said. He signed Ricky Rubio to a contract extension, he traded away Kevin Love and received Andrew Wiggins, he traded for Kevin Garnett and then re-signed Garnett to a two-year contract. Green would change the display depending on the level of unselfishness exhibited by the Jayhawks in the previous game.

“We told the players that you can not circumvent the grieving process”, Newton said. When asked if his overall game strategy this season would be rebuilding or developing, Mitchell replied, “First of all, we got to teach these guys how to approach the game”. It’s here that hope is renewed year after year; yes we are, by and large, a cynical lot, but the wildest imaginings of our hope still creep in to our comment threads, and remind us that yes, if everything goes right, we could finally have something here…