The first two times the Wolves and Blazers played in this 13-day stretch, the Blazers won by 23 points each time.

This time, for the third time since Nov. 8, they lost by 28 after leading briefly by a bucket with four minutes gone in the third quarter.

This is progress?

Kurt Rambis called it such after the Wolves allowed 66 in the second half — the most the Blazers have scored in a half all season — and couldn’t score a lick after holding that brief 51-49 lead.

The Blazers outscored them 57-27 the rest of the way.

Rambis said his team played “really, really well for tremendous stretches” and when I asked if he saw progress from those first two games against Portland, he said, “Absolutely.”

Later, in the locker room, I asked Al Jefferson the same question and he stared at me blankly.

Then, he said, “We lost by 30. We played good into the second half, then we couldn’t score no more in the third quarter. We couldn’t make no shots.”

The Wolves have lost the last eight games in this 12-game losing streak by an average of 20.6 points, all of those eight by 10 or more points.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Jefferson said.

The Wolves haven’t won since opening night when they beat New Jersey, the NBA’s only remaining winless team (0-13).

That was 26 days ago.

If the Wolves lost Monday to the Clippers in L.A., they will tie the franchise record for worst start to a season, 1-13 in the 1994-95 season.

The franchise’s longest losing streak is 16 games, reached twice (1991-92 and 1993-94 seasons).

That’s all from Portland tonight. Got an early flight to L.A. tomorrow.

The Wolves are in the second quarter tonight — trailing by as many as 11 early, of course — at Portland, trying to avoid their 12th consecutive loss after their season-opening victory over still winless New Jersey.

Two more losses — tonight and Monday at the L.A. Clippers — will tie the Wolves for the franchise’s worst start, 1-13 in the 1994-95 season.

Entering tonight, the Wolves’ last seven losses all have been by 10 or more points, including that 41-point fiasco at Golden State 12 days ago.

The Wolves again started Ryan Hollins next to Al Jefferson and again asked him to use his length against LaMarcus Aldridge, who has proven an extremely problematic matchup for the Wolves until Hollins came along.

The last time here (13 days ago, to be precise), Hollins helped limit Aldridge to 11 points and 4 rebounds (he did get 19 and 11 in the rematch four days later).

Tonight, Aldridge has two points midway through the second quarter.

Kevin Love again is watching from behind the Wolves’ bench here in his hometown.

Also not playing is injured Portland forward Travis Outlaw, out the next three to five months while he recovers from surgery to repair a broken foot.

Outlaw, 25, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

I know we’ve mentioned guys like Joe Johnson (a hard get) and Rudy Gay (an expensive get) as candidates when the Wolves try to spend all that saved cap money, but the more I think about it, the more a guy like Outlaw could be a target they actually could get.

He’s long, athletic and young.

Your thoughts?

Phil Miller’s got practice for me today because I’m already in Portland for the start of a quick two-game Western trip that starts tomorrow against the Blazers. Here’s what he reports about that X-ray Kevin Love had on his fractured left hand:

There’s been good healing progress. He’s probably two weeks away from participating in a full practice, perhaps three weeks away from playing in his first game of the season.

That’d be right in that six-to-eight ballpark estimated when he broke the hand in a preseason game at Chicago on Oct. 16, even if Love was hoping the X-ray would show he could start practicing right away again.

He did some outside shooting today, but can’t do anything physical with the hand yet. Love reports the pain is almost completely gone.

Exactly three weeks would put his return at that Dec. 11 game in Los Angeles against the Lakers, which would be a timely debut.

Al Jefferson’s back in the starting lineup and they’re just about set to tip it off at Target Center tonight, with the Wolves trying to end against Houston that 10-game losing streak.

Ryan Hollins is starting again at either center or power forward, whatever you want to designate him and designate Al. That leaves a Jefferson, Hollins, Ryan Gomes, Corey Brewer and Jonny Flynn starting lineup, of course.

Trevor Ariza walked into the Wolves locker room tonight less than 90 minutes before the opening tap. I was absolutely positive it was a super-duper big trade, but, alas, he was escorted into Kurt Rambis for about 10 minutes to visit with the guy who was his assistant coach with the Lakers last season.

Also, it’s hard to believe, but Tubby Smith has torn himself away from breaking down game film of Utah Valley State — the Gophers’ titanic opponent tomorrow night at the Barn — to attend tonight’s game. He’s either here to watch Oleksiy Pecherov or Rockets forward Chuck Hayes, who played for him at Kentucky.

Did a piece for the Web site and tomorrow’s Sports section on the mystery that is the triangle offense.

Here it is:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/70336767.html

Also, this Wolves blog as been one of the last few stranglers, but the time is almost here for it to migrate to the new publishing system that has won such winning reviews for other Strib blogs.

The change will come in the next day or two.

Look for a farewell entry here that redirects you to the new blog.

Sorry, I thought I’d posted this late this afternoon, but apparently it disappeared into the ether…

Al Jefferson was back at practice this afternoon, returning to practice shortly after it began this afternoon because his flight back from Florida was delayed.

He had been there since Thursday, arriving to see his ill grandmother just 30 minutes after he arrived.

Here’s a short story on Al and his grandmother for the paper and Web site:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/70246812.html

One interesting tidbit is that the Wolves sent new player development coach Darrick Martin and a strength coach down to Florida to help him workout and stay in shape while he was away. One little, telling example about how David Kahn and Kurt Rambis are going about changing the franchise’s culture.

Al says he’s ready to play Wednesday against Houston at Target Center.

OK, so the Wolves are three more losses away from tying the franchise’s worst start to a season, 1-13 in the 1994-95 season that led to Kevin Garnett being drafted fifth overall the next summer.

The Wolves, you might remember, were 1-10 at this time two seasons ago, in that first month playing without Kevin Garnett after the Boston trade.

Where have gone Al Jefferson and Kevin Love? Timberwolves Nation turns its lonely to you…

Al is expected back for practice on Monday. KLove will get his broken hand X-rayed again on Friday to see how the healing goes and if he can return to practice (that might be wishful thinking this soon).

It’ll be interesting to see if, or how much, the Wolves’ style of play changes once Love gets back and gets in the groove. As David Kahn mentioned from his letter earlier today, this isn’t the running show he promised and we’ll see how much Love’s rebounding can change things.

It was mentioned on the last thread, but…

Did you see Brandon Jennings didn’t score in the first quarter tonight against Golden State…then scored 55 the rest of the way.

Good thing his last name doesn’t rhyme with Flynn, huh?

Here’s the game story from tonight’s game:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/70119622.html

I set my DVR for NBA TV before I left town this morning and won’t get around until tomorrow or Monday to watch that Ricky Rubio Euroleague game from last week.

Anybody see it? Your thoughts? He didn’t have the greatest stats line, but I’m curious to see him just the same. Was Brandon Jennings right? Is RR all hype?

That’s all I got from Memphis tonight.

Let’s hope things get more interesting when Al, and then Love, return.

David Kahn has written another letter to Wolves followers, this time with his team off to a 1-9 start that includes a nine-game losing streak.

Here it is…

Dear Timberwolves Fans and Supporters:

I am writing this to you while on the plane from Minneapolis to Memphis, on Friday night following our loss to Dallas.  We are 1-9, having lost nine in a row.  Our record was to be expected – but it will not be accepted.

Big difference, I think.

What matters most to me is how we respond to adversity this season – knowing it will come in heavy doses occasionally.  Our last nine opponents are a collective 51-30, and there will be similar tough stretches throughout the season.

Specifically, I am eager to determine if the team:

•    Improves week to week, month to month, first half to second half.  This should occur as everything becomes more familiar and our young players develop.  Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington in particular need to take advantage of the rare opportunity to play significant minutes as rookies – to learn what works and what doesn’t work at this level and eliminate the mistakes.

•    Displays a physical and mental toughness, even when we lose.  We cannot lose as we did at Golden State – without a fight.  I liked the fact that we fought Dallas until the end tonight and won the fourth quarter.  Our crowd appreciated it.  I expect that to be the norm.  I not only expect that to be part of our culture, but also will demand it.

•    Starts running and attacking more on offense, as Kurt and I envision this team playing in the long term.

On that last point, it has been hard for us to sustain a running game without our best rebounder, Kevin Love, and with Al Jefferson still not all the way back from his ACL knee injury.  And our defense has been poor at times.  It is extremely difficult to run when you are taking the ball out of the basket.  But make no mistake – this will become a running team and that will be our identity.

I also don’t want to use Kevin and Al as excuses.  Everybody has injuries.  Everybody has tough parts of the schedule.  Everybody has adversity.  We will not be a team that makes excuses.

At times like these, I am motivated to work harder.   I want to scout more, watch more film, crunch more numbers, ask more questions.  I know Kurt and the coaching staff feel the same.  The coaches are the strength of our ballclub right now – I am proud to be working with them.  We all recognized when we signed up for this mission that it takes a Herculean effort, from all corners, to turn around a franchise and make it championship-caliber.

We obviously are not working hard enough yet.   We need to do more.   And we will.

Best regards,

David Kahn

From Phil Miller, who covered tonight’s game at Target Center:

It’s hard for Kurt Rambis to get too angry, not when his players are so intent upon following his instructions. But one sequence in Friday’s chippy 89-77 loss to Dallas illustrated how much his team still has to learn.
Like, when to ignore him.
With roughly five minutes gone in the game, Mavericks foward Dirk Nowitzki caught a pass in front of the visitors’ bench, roughly 18 feet from the basket. As he faced the hoop, Rambis’ pregame scouting report kicked in, in the minds of Minnesota defenders: He wants to go left. Don’t let him.
Just one problem: Every Dallas player had shifted to the left side of the floor, taking the Wolves’ defense with it. Suddenly the right side was empty, way too tempting a path for Nowitzki to pass up. “He prefers to go left, but they cleared out the whole right side,” Rambis said. “Instead of our team recognizing that and adjusting, he just drives right in because there’s no defense there.”
Nowitzki’s easy layup might not have happened against a veteran defense. “Experienced teams, connected teams, would recognize that and change their game plan,” Rambis said. “We’re just not at that point.”
Rambis even made his players watch video of the play at halftime, a good teaching moment about when to chuck the scouting reports. “I freezed the fame and they actually got a little chuckle out of it, because there was such confusion and indecisiveness about how to handle the situation,” the coach said. “But that’s our inexperience. Those are the instantaneous decisions, and we’re so far from that right now.”

The Wolves are starting Nathan Jawai and Ryan Hollins — call ‘em power forward and center or vice versa, whatever you prefer — tonight with Al Jefferson gone for the next two games.

Jefferson is in Florida, where his grandmother — Annie Bell Randolph, 83 — died yesterday in Fort Lauderdale.

Jefferson is expected to rejoin the team on Monday.

The Wolves wilol start the game by putting Jawai on center Erick Dampier and asking Hollins to defend Dirk Nowitzki, just like he did in practice last year with the Mavs.