Veteran point guard Kevin Ollie, who hasn’t played since suffering a dislocated left elbow in a Jan. 3 game at Chicago, was in the Wolves’ locker room before the game and said he hopes to be back soon.
“I had a fracture in there, too, and they say that’s healing,” he said. “It’s just painful now and range of motion, trying to get that back. I started shooting this past week, was cleared to shoot. I just can’t dribble with my left hand and stuff.”
Ollie, who lives in Connecticut, said he couldn’t pinpoint a day or week when he might return and isn’t sure when he’ll be back in the Twin Cities.
Doc Rivers huddled with his coaches Sunday morning to consider the day’s opponent and ended up evaluating Al Jefferson, the Timberwolves forward who a few hours later delivered another 34-point performance that, unless there’s an injury, still won’t get him to this month’s All-Star Game.
“We were discussing who’s a better post player than Al, and we had zero names,” said Rivers, who coached Jefferson during his first three NBA seasons in Boston. “[Tim] Duncan faces you up a lot. But just low-post, back-to-the-basket scorers? In the league, there’s just not a lot of them.
“If you go by that criteria, you’re probably an All-Star. Not if you can’t come up with more than two or three names, and we didn’t.”
Julian Benbow/Boston Globe on Al Jefferson:
“He is just maturing,” said Celtics captain Paul Pierce of the 24-year-old power forward. “I thought he has always had the tools and you started seeing it in his last year here with the Celtics. I think he has just constantly worked on getting better and he has every move in the book. Now with Kevin McHale over there showing him little things he knows . . . he can only help him get better.”
Jefferson, playing in his fifth season, is one of only three active players in the league averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds, along with Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard.
“I really thought he was going to be an All-Star this year,” Pierce said.
The team did earn some respect in defeat from Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
“I tell you, they’re going to be good,” he said. “Al Jefferson offensively is very difficult to guard. Kevin Love is going to be a monster; he really is. He’s a pain in the butt to keep off the glass.”
Love had 10 rebounds in 25 minutes for the Wolves, who have suffered consecutive losses to the Detroit Pistons, Lakers and Celtics after a 10-2 start to January and only five more games before the all-star break.
The Wolves began February with their third consecutive loss after they started January 10-2. All three were against teams with winning records, including back-to-back losses against last season’s NBA finalists, the Lakers and Celtics.
Jefferson has developed the way everyone thought he would, and now he is being tutored every day by one of the game’s best low-post players ever. Jefferson had 34 points on 15 of 21 shooting, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots against the Celtics and “is developing into a superstar,’’ according to Paul Pierce.
“Just having someone teach you the game who actually played that position,’’ said Jefferson, “is a lot better than listening to a guy who probably played the game but didn’t play your position.
“He saw what I’m going through. He was double teamed his whole career. He knows exactly what I’m going through, so he’s helped me out a lot. He knows how to deal with the double-team and work out of it and still get my points and help my team get better.’’
His team, said McHale, is “coming along great. If you’re not better at 24 than you were at 21, you’ve got some issues going on. This is a young team trying to find itself.”
McHale has managed to keep cool in choppy waters. “You don’t overreact. With a young team there are going to be ups and downs.” McHale never planned on being a coach. “No. Bill Fitch was my first coach (with the Celtics). I was anti-coach.” The two didn’t get along. Fitch was always calling out the free-spirited McHale.
Before yesterday’s 109-101 Timberwolves loss at the Garden, he reminisced with members of the Celtics [team stats] family and talked about last season’s run to the title.
“I got very nervous for them,” McHale said. “I even called Danny (Ainge, the C’s president of basketball operations) a couple of times. I’m happy for Danny, KG and all the people who are still here from when I was here.”
Timberwolves guard Sebastian Telfair believes his cousin, suspended Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, would be a good fit in Boston.
The ex-Celtic, however, said Marbury has not asked him about the Celtics’ organization or what it would be like to live in Boston.
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