And on the third day, the Wolves rested.

Sort of.

They practiced just once, but it was a three-hour, 15-minute session that gave them the day off from two-a-day practices they held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Included on Thursday was more than 30 minutes when Al Jefferson participated in live 2-on-2 drills, a development that was another step forth in his recovery from a sprained medial collateral ligament.

Expect Big Al to get back to practice normally sometime next week. Randy Wittman said he expects Jefferson to miss at least the first couple preseason games, which would rule him out for games Monday at Milwaukee, Wednesday against Oklahoma City in Billings, Mt., and possibly next Friday at Denver.

“He’s lost a little conditioning,” Wittman said. “If you get out there and start playing when you’re not in good condition, that’s when you get hurt. He hasn’t lost that much. He’s worked pretty hard through the summer. But he’s got to get himself to the points where his teammmates are now (physically after five hard practices).”

The Wolves did live 5-on-5 work for about the final 40 minutes of Thursday’s practice. There was a scare when Kevin Love stepped on Craig Smith’s foot and went down hard. Afterward, Love said he slightly hyperextended his leg, but he got up and ran it off.

“This is kind of the hump day of fighting through the soreness,” Wittman said. “They’re going through a tough stretch of soreness. Once your body get through that, you won’t have that soreness the rest of the season. That’s why we went one long one today instead of two.”

Corey Brewer actually thrived in the full-court running, getting to the basket several times for lay-ins and/or drawing fouls. The practice ended with Brian Cardinal hitting a decisive shot off a Randy Foye feed.
Wittman said he has put in just enough offense to allow his players to run up and down the floor and get into some basic offensive sets.  They wrap up camp with a public scrimmage here in Mankato Saturday night and play the Bucks on Monday.

“Exhibition is practice to me,” Wittman said. “I’m not really concerned about Monday. It’s probably not going to look real pretty offensively. I want to see how we’re going to look defensively. ”

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