The Timberwolves decided to switch things up a little bit today, going through a full practice on the main floor of Target Center. Normally, the Wolves conduct their practices downstairs on a court inside the recreation center, and only use the main court for the game day morning shoot around and, of course, the actual games. Coach Randy Wittman said there was no specific reason for the change-up. Just a little switcharoo the day before taking on Portland.

The media only saw about the last 10 minutes of actual practice today, which isn’t much. Here’s my expert report from what we were allowed in for: Half the team doing cool-down stretches, a quarter running sprints and a quarter shooting free-throws. Thrilling …

Things picked up in a hurry, however. At least from a reporter’s perspective. I won’t reveal all, but here’s a sampling of some of the quotes offered up today:

Al Jefferson (yes, he returned to practice today and said everything’s fine) on the Wolves giving up leads down the stretch: “We have lost a lot of games this year that we should have won. It’s still early, but we should be over .500 right now. I don’t know if we’re just being cursed by the basketball gods or something. I don’t know what it is.”

Corey Brewer on Greg Oden: “He was a beast.” (Brewer, you might remember, played against Oden twice in 2007 - once during the regular season and in the year’s final game when Brewer’s Gators beat Oden’s Buckeyes for the national championship).

And finally the day’s gem. Wittman after being asked about internet rumors that the team’s 1-6 start has him on the hot seat: “Aw, [expletive] … And there’s a [expletive] flying saucer out there, too. I don’t have any comment about that stuff. What do you want me to say?”

That does it for today. I’ll be back on tomorrow before tip-off.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 4:05 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.