Jon Laging, Sports Columnist

I stayed up late the first weekend in February to watch the Minnesota Timberwolves play Portland and Golden State in the pacific time zone. Sleep didn’t come until 1 a.m. and I missed part of the next morning. They didn’t win, in fact, they got overwhelmed by Golden State after losing to Portland.

There has been a lot of discussion about Kevin McHale’s recent seven player trade. Some analysts thought it was a terrible trade for the Wolves. Others felt the Wolves would benefit even with the possibility of losing their first round draft choice. I thought, what did they have to lose and the trade was pretty much even up. After watching the two games on the coast it appears that the pro-trade people and I were wrong.

The Wolves again proved at Portland that they were unable to win the close games even with three new players on the floor at the finish. They lost by four points 89-85. I was disappointed, but understood that it’s a new team and it takes a while for the new players to mesh and work well at the end of the game. I was trying to follow the party line. That these were new exciting players and things would improve.

I was still undecided about the new Timberwolves after Portland and was looking forward to the Golden State Warrior game. Again one of the bottom feeders in the league. I needn’t have bothered. It was one of the &045; No, I’ll go further &045; it was the worst game I have ever seen the Timberpuppies play. They looked terrible, unorganized, selfish and lazy. The only player that seemed to care was poor Kevin Garnett.

The player we got for Wally Szczerbiak: Ricky Davis, made sure he got his 20 points and made the highlight film, but played as though he thought the team was not named the Timberwolves, but Ricky Davis and the four little Davises. To give you an idea of what happened: Davis was leading a 2-on-1 break, which nine times out of 10 results in a sure two points, maybe three if the layup shooter is fouled. Davis gets to the free throw line, pulls up, goes back to the three point line and calls for the ball &045; gets it &045; doesn’t shoot, probably feeling that it would be blatantly selfish even for him. The Wolves get nothing from the two on one break. On another occasion he performs an unnecessary back to the basket dunk. Remember the Wolves were playing a basketball game, not a half-time exhibition.

Center Mark Blount did what he had come close to perfecting at Boston. He disappeared! Admittedly that’s pretty difficult for a 7-foot, 250 pound athlete to do, but Blount accomplished it.

Guard Marcus Banks showed some good playground basketball and new draft choice Rashad McCants played good offense, no defense. How long is Kevin McHale going to stack these losers on Kevin Garnett? Garnett played defense against a fast break, stopped it, but received no help and the Warriors scored as the rest of the Timberwolves stood and watched.

Fans, as you know, one of the reasons the trade was made was not only to improve the team, but to sell tickets. Attendance was down and something had to be done. From the owner’s perspective, it’s too bad the trade wasn’t made before a home stand. It may be too late to generate much excitement by the time they get back from their road trip.

Kevin McHale relieved Flip Saunders halfway through the season last year. It’s time McHale got some relief from owner Glen Taylor.