The Wolves won for the four times in five games, and Randy Wittman wasn’t happy that for a second consecutive game his reserves carried his starting five’s butts.

As they had in Chicago, the team’s second unit provided the difference. This time, it was Blake Ahearn, Rodney Carney and Ryan Gomes, among others, who transformed a game in which the starting five again looked lethargic and settled for too many jumpers.

Wittman used the occasion to call out his starters afterward (even though with Big Al, Corey Brewer, Craig Smith, Foye and Rashad McCants Thursday it was a different starting lineup from Tuesday in Chicago). He praised Ahearn and said he was the team’s best playmaker on the floor, which shouldn’t be the case with Foye and Sebastian Telfair out there. And he said Jefferson needs to get in better shape by the Oct. 29 opener against Sacramento.

“We’ve got 13 days,” Wittman said. “I don’t know who the starting lineup is going to be Oct. 29. We’re going to play guys who will be aggressive.”

Jefferson, in turn, said he isn’t concerned about the starters. “Ever game is a different starting five,” he said of preseason play. And he said he had a cold Thursday and it showed in his conditioning.

“I have 13 days,” he said. “I’ll be ready.”

Ahearn and Carney, in particular, turned the game into a sprint in a second quarter in which the Wolves outscored the Raptors 34-20.

Ahearn made his first six shots, three of them three. Hey, they should poke the guy in the eye before every game. He left Wednesday’s practice after getting poked there for the second time since camp opened Sept. 30 and thrived on Thursday with that second-quarter shooting and a nifty left-handed, behind-the-back pass to Ryan Gomes during the decisive fourth quarter. That’s when the Wolves’ reserves flex themselves yet again.

“I’d take that,” Ahearn said about the poke-in-the-eye suggestion.

Twenty years after the team’s inaugural television spots urged so, the Wolves, finally, for a few minutes there in the second quarter lived up the slogan “Run with the Wolves.” Carney had two springy breakaway slams and was mighty lively in that stretch.

“You’ve got guys like Rodney Carney and we were saying it’s like a track meet and the gun went off,” Ahearn said.  “He just took off sometimes.”

Other thoughts and observations:

Brewer took a step back after playing so well the last two times out. He made as many shots as he missed (2 for 4) and had six rebounds, but bobbled the ball in the open court and had four turnovers in a five-point night in 28 minutes. Still, with time running out in the third quarter, he made an effortless three from the left corner to give the Wolves a seven-point lead going into the fourth. That was the only three he attempted in the game and now has seven (7 for 9) in five preseason games, as many as he made all last regular season.

In his first start, McCants went 0-for-7 and scored two points on a pair of free thrwos. He also had three turnovers on a night when those pesky thing again vexed the Wolves. This time, they had 19, including three each from the starting backcourt of McCants and Foye.

You know the Wolves are going to be better because Ryan Gomes is now about their eighth or ninth player, as opposed to two or three a season ago. He got to the foul line 12 times , scored 17 points, had seven assists and FOUR (count ‘em) steals. The Wolves’ reserves had 15 of the team’s 21 free-throw attempts.

“It’s all about playing hard,” Jefferson said. “That’s what the second unit did. They moved the ball. They shared the ball. They didn’t settle for jump shots like we did.”

Mike Miller didn’t play for the second consecutive game after he awoke Thursday with soreness in the sprained ankle on which he practiced fully Wednesday. Wittman held him out as a precaution and started McCants alongside Foye instead. McCants, back as a starter, did the KG thing and clapped a cloud of rosin all over the scorer’s table before the opening tap. Gee, I’ve missed that.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.