By Tom Powers
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Kevin Garnett returned home, and the old neighborhood didn’t look so bad at all.
Donning a Timberwolves jersey for the first time since April 9, 2007, Garnett helped the Minnesota to a 97-77 victory over the Washington Wizards at Target Center. An historic homecoming and a solid victory - two unexpected pleasures in one evening for long-suffering Wolves fans.
Yet it was one of those nights when the final score might not have been the most important thing, anyway. Garnett’s mere presence had the desired effect of creating relevancy. The Timberwolves fan base has dwindled precipitously in recent years. They have become almost an afterthought on the local sports scene.
On Wednesday, Target Center was filled with enthusiastic supporters, many of whom had tuned out when Garnett departed in 2007.
“The emotion of it is to see the fans come back,” coach Flip Saunders said. “When I came back, the vision was to try to get this team (improved) as quick as possible. We thought last year we could do a playoff-type situation, a run, and the fans would come back and, you know, it would catch hold.
“That didn’t happen, and we had the unfortunate situation (with Kevin Love) this year. So it’s taken a while to sort of re-energize the people. We hope to get re-energized and they see what we have and they see that there is a future here, a bright future, and they jump in and start following us.”
For one night at least, they appeared re-energized. On Wednesday, they came to see Garnett. Perhaps they left talking about some of the Wolves young players. Andrew Wiggins and Ricky Rubio always put on a show. And that’s what the organization is hoping for.
Still, Garnett didn’t come home to be a museum exhibit. He was amped up to be back. He was supposed to arrive at Target Center about 5:30. Instead, he was in the building by 4:15. From the moment he stepped on the court for pre-game warmups, he was showered with affection. He was introduced to raucous applause, which he acknowledged several times. For much of the night, looking at the video board was like looking at a Garnett scrapbook.
“Since we came here, the players that we drafted and the players that we signed, we’ve always talked about trying to create that family atmosphere,” Saunders said. “This is like bringing one of your own family back home.”
Not just any family member, though. For years, Garnett was everyone’s favorite little brother. Clearly, people still see him that way, even though he’s more in the uncle range age-wise these days. He missed his first two shots but swatted away a shot by Washington’s Nene, and the reaction nearly brought down the house.
Yet it was obvious the Wolves were overly excited. They bounced basketballs off their knees and feet. And the net result was one of the worst quarters in their history. They trailed 20-11 after 12 minutes, and the offense was so primitive they should have nailed up peach baskets on either end of the court.
They rallied, though, and that rally was partly fueled by a couple of Garnett baskets at the start of the second half. It is doubtful the younger Minnesota players have heard such a sustained racket at Target Center. In fact, there are nights when they probably heard nothing but crickets.
Garnett finished with five points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes.
“It does show, more than anything else, to players like (Andrew) Wiggins and some of our young players, the excitement that this city will generate when given the opportunity,” Saunders said.
“This whole night might be bigger than the game. Just the whole event, sometimes, is bigger than the game and something that might really solidify things moving forward for the future.”
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with Forum News Service.
