‘Scary’ at the Point of Attack

MINNEAPOLIS —  The Minnesota Timberwolves have headed west, alive and relatively well, they’d like everybody to know, their coach even calling them a “scary” team to face tonight in Game 6.

Sam Cassell will not play, but the Timberwolves seem resolute behind their new 6-foot-11 point guard and the renewed vigor pumped into their systems by Game 5.

Kevin Garnett will again run the team by initiating the attack from the point about 70% of the time, as he did in Game 5, the most he’d ever played at the point, Coach Flip Saunders said.

Garnett, who had 30 points, 19 rebounds and four assists, had help from the Timberwolves’ outside shooters, Fred Hoiberg scoring an unexpected 14 points and Latrell Sprewell getting 28, his best game in the series.

It was the Timberwolves’ perimeter play that Saunders underscored Sunday morning before they boarded their charter flight to Los Angeles.

“We’re a scary team to play,” he said, tossing out the names of Sprewell, Hoiberg and Wally Szczerbiak.

“When I go against a team with a lot of shooters and all those guys get rolling in one night, that can be a very scary situation to play against. You might be going for two and they might be going for three. It could make for a long night.”

Saunders, who compared Garnett’s Game 5 effort to the one Magic Johnson put forth in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals, liked the problems the league most valuable player posed for the Lakers at point.

“For them it’s a Catch-22,” Saunders said. “If they put on pressure when KG has the ball, there’s no doubt Karl [Malone] is not as comfortable trying to guard him 25 feet from the bucket. KG can use his quickness to get into the post, he can run pick-and-rolls, he can put it on the floor and go by, so he becomes much more difficult to defend.

“If they don’t put pressure on us, then we’re able to pretty much run our offense. We’ve always been a pretty good execution team.”

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Cassell dressed the part, wearing a blue sweatsuit when he showed up with a handful of teammates for Sunday’s optional practice, but it turned out to be a head fake. He was there for treatment on his ailing back and hip, nothing more, and said he would sit out a second consecutive game tonight.

“Now I have to just sit back and let the fellas take care of the task at hand,” he said. “Desire burns, but I can’t play. It’s just not going away.”

Cassell said his back and hip are bothering him equally, though he didn’t rule out a return Wednesday for Game 7, should there be a need for it.

In the meantime, he’ll have to watch from afar, dressed again in street clothes.

“It’s killing me personally, knowing what I can do against the Lakers and not having the ability to do it,” he said.

“It’s putting my teammates at strain.... All I can do is keep cheering for them.”