On the same night Kevin Love stayed in the locker room all game while his team played on without him…

Al Jefferson played fewer than 21 minutes — fewer than six in the second half, including none in the fourth quarter — because of what Kurt Rambis called tendinitis in his Achilles tendon.

Jefferson had 10 points (on 2 for 7 shooting) and four rebounds when he sat down after his Achilles was too sore for him to continue.

When asked how serious it might be, Rambis said, “I don’t know. We’re off tomorrow, he’ll get some treatment on it. It’s an irritation. Hopefully, it will calm down…Today was the first I heard of it.”

With Love’s rebounding and without Jefferson being effective, the Wolves didn’t have a chance. Oleksiy Pecherov’s nine rebounds was the best a Timberwolf could do, and his output more than doubled any of his other opponents.

“Definitely, you could see it,” Jonny Flynn said of Love’s absence one night after Love fractured his left hand in Chicago. “There’s a gap right there, rebounding, offensively. He gives us double digits (points and rebounds) every night. We’re going to need everybody coming together to make up for that.”

Other stuff about the game:

* Ramon Sessions returned to Milwaukee and Bradley Center where he played 96 games over the last two seasons and it’s starting to look like, if he and Flynn don’t play together as least some, there’s not going to be enough minutes to keep them both happy. Sessions played 21 minutes (Flynn nearly 27) and was 0-for-4 with two points, five assists and two turnovers while Flynn (19 pts, 5 assts, 3 TOs) and Brandon Jennings (16 pts, 7 assts, 1 TO) engaged in a battle of lottery-pick point guards.

* Flynn is looking more comfortable with each game, although Rambis measured his words when asked about Flynn’s progress.

“I see lot of progress and I see areas where he needs to improve,” Rambis said. “He does some amazing things out there and he does some impulsive, wrong things. It’s a process. It’s not always going to be good. It’s going to be up and down. It’s going to be inconsistent. The hardest thing for players is to be consistent night in and night out. It’s tough. It’s really tough. It’s a real mark of a professional when they can play seven out of eight games well.”

* If Saturday’s game is an accurate indicator, don’t hold your breath waiting for Ryan Hollins or Pecherov to step in and fill the void left by Love’s injury.

“They had some decent moments out there,” Rambis siad. “They made some contributions, but there were a lot of times when they weren’t executing the offense. They were looking a little bit lost out there. They have to understand what we need out of them, too. It’s not just them doing what they want to do. There are sacrifices that have to be made to help us out.”

* Corey Brewer had the kind of stat line he’s going to need to be effective: 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting (not 5 for 14), four rebounds, an assist, a steal, a turnover in 26 minutes. He again made two threes, although one was a one-foot desperation heave forced by the shot clock that rattled all around and went in.

Call me crazy, call me a Kool-aid slurper, but I think he’s going to be all right. The guy’s long, active, a diligent defender and plays at a pace faster than anybody on this team, even if that’s more than occasionally a detriment to his jump shot.

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