Kevin Love left the Wolves locker room here inside United Center tonight with a stocking cap tugged hard over his head and his left wrist heavily wrapped in a bandage after breaking a bone in it.

He also was carrying a styrofoam container of food when Al Jefferson turned and gave him a direct message.

“You need to stay in shape now,” he said. “Stay in shape, man.”

Love is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks because of that broken fourth metacarpal bone on his left hand.

Jefferson lost 31 pounds while recovering from last February’s torn knee ligament.

Now Love, who has battled his own weight problem, needs to stay slim until December.

David Kahn after the game said he could think of worse things.

Love said afterward that at least it was only his hand, an injury that will heal quickly compared to a torn knee ligament even if the hand requires surgery (quite possibly), and his non-shooting hand at that.

Love could miss the first 20 games or more. Included will be the season’s only two visits to his hometown of Portland, where the Wolves play twice in 13 days in November.

Without him, newcomers Ryan Hollins and Oleksiy Pecherov will be asked to step to the forefront.

Pecherov shook off Wednesday’s dreadful debut by scoring 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting in nearly 21 minutes off the bench. He also had five rebounds.

Pecherov hoisted up six three-point attempts and made two.

Two of those attempts came in the final seconds with the game on the line. Kurt Rambis went over and got in Pecherov’s ear after that first one, not because he shot it but because he didn’t shoot it with confidence.

Hollins had two points, a rebound and two blocks in 19 minutes.

Both will need to rebound now. So, too, will Jefferson, who averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds and had 16 rebounds tonight, seven of them after Love went to the locker room for xrays.

Other tidbits from tonight:

* Corey Brewer was active and effective. He led the Wolves with 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting, made a couple of threes even (on six attempts) and played 25 minutes.

* Jonny Flynn had eight assists and 10 points (3 for 9 FGs) in 23 minutes.

* Wayne Ellington, the shooter, went 1 for 10.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 11:52 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.