FanHouse Johnny Flynn

The Timberwolves rolled in their first game under Kurt Rambis, beating the Bucks in what was the preseason opener for both teams. Minnesota is likely to care a lot more about these exhibition contests than most, considering they have a new head coach, their best player returning from a knee injury, and a rookie point guard running the team offensively.

That's a lot of things to mesh together before the season starts, but Minnesota looked further along than one might have expected, at least in this initial outing.

One especially interesting item from the box score was the line belonging to Jonny Flynn. Because while the rookie was solid in his debut, and finished with 14 points and seven assists, he did so without making a single shot from the field.

You don't have to like Rick Pitino and his white disco suit, which is something David Hasselhoff might wear to a rave. You don't have to like the way Louisville -- "LOU-EEE-VILLE'' in any sensible phonetic context -- becomes "LUVVLLL'' in the natives' too-folksy attempt to shorten three syllables to one. But I do happen to like the way the Louisville Cardinals play basketball this March, from their depth and guard play to the unselfishness and frenetic pressure defense that have been Pitino signatures since his hair was jet-black and gooed up.

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You don't have to like Rick Pitino and his white disco suit, which is something David Hasselhoff might wear to a rave. You don't have to like the way Louisville -- "LOU-EEE-VILLE'' in any sensible phonetic context -- becomes "LUVVLLL'' in the natives' too-folksy attempt to shorten three syllables to one. But I do happen to like the way the Louisville Cardinals play basketball this March, from their depth and guard play to the unselfishness and frenetic pressure defense that have been Pitino signatures since his hair was jet-black and gooed up.

I also like the way they plan ahead. While America was abuzz over Syracuse's "Six In The City'' overtime extravaganza in New York, followed by one more OT for good cardiovascular measure later that night, Terrence Williams and Andre McGee spent part of Saturday afternoon in a Midtown convenience store. The idea was to buy lots of Gatorade, but then they saw the Martinelli's Sparkling Cider -- the bottles are shaped like apples -- and a brainstorm came to them. This is how they'd celebrate in Madison Square Garden if they beat Syracuse that evening and won the Big East tournament championship: They would spray four bottles of apple juice around the locker room.