For Timberwolves, Hope Springs Eternal

Gulp.

Happily for the league, it had a great second round because -- happily for the Lakers, at least -- the bottom may have already fallen out of the Western Conference finals, which once looked like it would be a classic, no matter who got in.

The Lakers, now on one of their spring flings, already have broken through on the Timberwolves’ home court, and Sam Cassell, Minnesota’s No. 1 crunch-time option, looks doubtful for today’s Game 2.

The Timberwolves are maintaining an even strain, insisting they’ve been here before, they’ve had injuries before, they’ve lost an opener on their own floor before, they just have to make adjustments, etc.

R-i-g-h-t. About the 10th time everyone went through it Saturday, a local reporter told Coach Flip Saunders you couldn’t really say this was like any other injury.

“What am I going to say?” Saunders said. “What do you want me to say?.... I’m not going to say anything different than what we’ve done. That’s how we approached it a couple years ago when we lost Terrell Brandon.

“That’s basically how you have to approach it. You have to give confidence to the guys that you have that you’re going to put on the floor. And I think because I’ve always done that, we’ve had guys at times that have stepped up.

“So somebody is going to have to step up huge, whether we go with a big lineup [Wally Szczerbiak replacing Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Kevin Garnett handling the ball], whether we go with a true point guard in Darrick [Martin] or whether Sam has a miraculous recovery in the next 24 hours and he’s ready to give us major minutes....

“Let’s face the fact, [tonight’s] a must-win game for us. It’s difficult to come back when you’re down 0-2, let alone when you’ve lost your first two in your own arena.

“One thing we’re not going to do, we’re not going to jeopardize him, from the standpoint of hurting himself. If he’s going to hurt himself, then he’s not going to play. If he’s able to play and he’s not going to hurt himself, no matter what, even on one leg -- I mean, [Friday] night he was able to make shots early....

“I told the guys through all that, the massive turnovers in the first half, Sam being hurt and everything else, it’s a two-point game with 3:26 to go and we had opportunities.

“As I told the guys, every guy on the floor, he has to find a way to make one more play.”

Gee, when you put it that way, it sounds almost possible.

It’s true, there are better teams than the Timberwolves, but with the Karl Malone-John Stockton era over in Utah, there’s no one who plays as hard as they do, or is as resilient.

Everything the Timberwolves have accomplished has been in the face of tremendous odds, despite all manner of misfortune: Stephon Marbury’s defection in 1999; the death of Malik Sealy in 2000; David Stern’s draconian sentence, forfeiting five No. 1 picks for giving Joe Smith an under-the-table deal in 2000; the loss of Brandon in 2002.

Despite those disasters, they went from 25-25 in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season to post win totals of 50-47-50-51-58 in the last five.

It’s no mystery this flows from Kevin Garnett, who makes up in ferocity what he lacks as a scorer.

However, with Cassell ailing, it’s all on Garnett, and the Lakers know it, which was why Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant dropped off their guys and hung out in the lane, ready to help if Garnett came that way.

Moreover, a lot of Timberwolves already stepped up in Game 1 and it wasn’t enough, with Cassell going 32 minutes and scoring 16 points, which may be 16 more than they get out of him today.

In Game 1, Latrell Sprewell and Michael Olowokandi combined to score 33 points while shooting 52%, against a combined regular-season average of 24 and 41%. Today, they’re supposed to get 35 points and shoot 53%.

Playoff history is replete with tales of players throwing away their crutches to play. However, Cassell couldn’t finish Game 1, limped to the dressing room, didn’t practice Saturday and didn’t speak to the media.

Of course, hope springs eternal, officially at least.

“I don’t think there’s many teams in the league,” Saunders said, “that can lose your backup point guard, Troy Hudson, and you come down to the fourth quarter and you lose your second-team all-league guy in Sam Cassell, that are able to turn to a guy 7-foot-1 and say, ‘You know what, keep us in the game as long as you can, bringing the ball up and try to do as much as you can.’

“Kevin has the ability to do that. I mean, he kept us in the game because of his versatility. Now what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to put ourselves in position where he can have more of an impact to win the game rather than just keep us in it.”

Well, it could happen.

For the moment, the Timberwolves have yet to show they can beat this incarnation of the Lakers with Cassell limited, to say nothing of beating the Lakers without Cassell, or winning in Staples Center without Sam I Am.

Let’s just say this is going to require some adjustment period.

Faces and Figures

With the playoff lottery coming Wednesday, the two worst teams, Orlando and Chicago, are signaling they’re not interested in long-range projects from high school or overseas. Each will take Emeka Okafor if it gets the first pick. The Bulls are so determined to get immediate help, if they don’t get Okafor, they’ll take the player thought to be next-readiest, Duke’s Luol Deng, even though he’s only 19. “We went that way [taking preps Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry] three years ago and we’re still waiting for them,” says impatient Bull General Manager John Paxson. Of course, if Dwight Howard, the 6-10 prep from Atlanta considered the most talented player in the draft, turns out to be the next coming of Garnett, this wouldn’t look too good on Paxson’s resume, assuming he’s not back doing color commentary.... On the heartwarming side, it took only six seasons of bottom dwelling for the Bulls to regain their traditional humility. The team that wouldn’t even acknowledge which draft prospects they worked out, now announces them in advance, with times they’ll be available for interviews, begging for coverage.

ESPN Classic replayed Game 5 of the Laker-Spur series three times Monday, making it impossible for the Spurs to forget it. “You can’t help but see that on TV,” Devin Brown of the Spurs said. “It’s everywhere. You just have to use it as motivation.” ... The Spurs protested that the clock started late before Derek Fisher’s shot, but afterward Coach Gregg Popovich said the Lakers deserved to win. “All things being fair, any reasonable people watching the same situation would say we were luckier than they were,” Popovich said. “If Tim [Duncan’s] two shots [the 19-footer with :00.4 left and an 18-foot heave off the backboard] hadn’t gone in, there wouldn’t have even been an end where we thought we won the game. So get over it.”

Believe it or not, Jerry West’s executive-of-the-year award, sponsored by the Sporting News and determined by a vote of his peers, was only his second, and merely ties him with Bob Bass as the only ones to win it with two teams. Yes, Bob Bass, the one who recently resigned in New Orleans. No, I can’t account for it.... West is the ninth general manager to take a team from 50 losses to 50 wins in one season, but most of the others came as a result of the arrival of stars such as Larry Bird, David Robinson and Duncan. West’s big move was hiring Hubie Brown, this season’s coach of the year, which has put older guys back in vogue. Atlanta is now interviewing Dallas assistant Del Harris and Denver assistant John MacLeod.... Brown on West: “He has the courage to take on the fan base, the media and even the doubting Thomases within your own organization. And that is what separates the outstanding executives from just the run of the mill. For me, it’s an honor to be associated with Jerry West. He is the epitome of brilliance and communication. He understands the big picture.” ... Said West of his 2002 decision to go to Memphis, with the usual understatement: “This is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

Joke’s on him: During its series against the Pacers, the Heat hired an Indianapolis TV guy named Dave Benz to shoot a video showing Heat decals on local landmarks, like the finish line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the back of Boomer, the Pacers’ mascot. However, when the Colts, taking it seriously, protested the one in Edgerrin James’ locker, Benz was suspended by his station. He then apologized in a letter to the Indianapolis Star, noting he’s really a Pacer fan, which even TV guys aren’t supposed to admit. To their credit, the Pacers laughed the whole episode off.