Britt Robson is laden with other writing assignments and won't be able to offer analysis of tonight's Minnesota win over Orlando. Care to fill in the breach? Hit "comments" and give us your take.

1. 4th Quarter Follies
How do you cough up all but two points of a 25-point lead against a team that is 30 games below .500? By building that lead against a collection of very talented, overpaid, attitudinally cancerous players who hate their coach and are practically staring at their watches rather than the hoop while waiting for the season to end.

1. Fill out this form in triplicate. Twice.

Exact double-digit lead blown, and when it started to occur?
15 points, at 45-30 with 2:43 left to play in the first half.
Mark Blount first quarter points? 11, on 5-5 FG and 1-2 FT.
Mark Blount second, third, and fourth quarter points? 7 on 1-7 FG and 5-8 FT
Career high in points or assists by an opponent? For a change, nobody!
Wolves shooting percentage, first half? 58% (19-33 FG)
Wolves shooting percentage, second half? 24% (9-37 FG)
Last tie score? 75-75, with 3:02 left in the game.
Final score? 86-82, New Jersey.
Last Wolves win on the road? February 6.
Next road win? ???

1. Boxing out.
At the end of the first half of tonight's Wolves-Heat game, Minnesota was getting annihilated on the boards, grabbing just 11 defensive rebounds to Miami's 10 offensive rebounds, the primary reason why the Heat held a whopping 17-2 edge in second-chance points, more than the difference in their 57-50 lead. In the second half, after pretty much breaking even corralling caroms off their defensive glass, Minnesota outrebounded Miami 6-to-1 (18 defensive rebounds to 3 offensive rebounds for the Heat), and outscored them in second-chance points by 7 to 3. In a game where Shaquille O'Neal was a late scratch, sealing off those additional opportunities by boxing out on the boards was the difference in the game, won by the Wolves 100-96.

1. Planning to lose
Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Timberwolves played with energy and cohesion, especially on offense, in the first period of Thursday game with Golden State, racing out to a 32-25 lead. They held the advantage for nearly the entire first half, only to fold up against an opponent who was practically begging to be defeated, scoring a measly 14 points in the third and then playing cat-and-mouse in a determined but inevitably fruitless game of catch-up to make it close in the fourth quarter. Nearly every game on this road trip to hell has followed a roughly similar pattern. You want a silver lining? Minnesota didn't blow a double-digit lead this time; their largest margin (in the first period, natch) was nine points.

Last week, Kevin Garnett "scolded" (Star Tribune) some of his teammates for laughing after another loss.

It was difficult to not think about Garnett and the moribund style of basketball the NBA plays while watching two terrific high school basketball games Wednesday night. The gym in Maple Grove was packed with parents and students, all of whom had a stake in the outcome: win or go home. Gophers coach Dan Monson sat on the bleachers in the corner, eating popcorn and salivating over the raw and tough city kids before him (salivating, that is, if he's got an iota of coaching acumen left in him).

Greg Boone was there, too. Boone played for Minneapolis Central in the glory days of Minneapolis basketball, and is now an avid youth-sports organizer. He once told me that people often tell him that the '75-'76 Central team featuring Boone, William Henry, Greg Maddox, Duane Nelson, and Andre Griffin was the greatest high school basketball team they've ever seen. They once beat Edison, 100-25.

1. Mark Blount is not the answer.
It is a brutal exercise being a Timberwolves fan nowadays. The personnel guy goes out and gets a big man whose best season by a country mile happened to occur in a contract year. Already 30 years old, the big man is signed through the 2009-10 season at an average of $7 million per year. The personnel guy trades a number-one pick and his second-best player in the deal.

I fully intended to go down to First Avenue and check out the Ghostface Killah gig, but instead got sucked into the Kirby Puckett Memorial on television. Here are some quick impressions.

Hit: Former Twins GM Andy MacPhail will apparently forever be boyish and classy. His leadoff speech deftly put into perspective how much energy Puckett selflessly expended keeping himself and his teammates so upbeat--and how important that is on during the long baseball season.

Miss: All of us were once again subjected to the myriad foibles of Tom Kelly. Chosen to close out the proceeedings, TK strutted his ostentatious false modesty by breaking from the script and hauling all of the ballplayers up behind him from out of their chairs, mysteriously passing it off as a once-in-lifetime photo op when it became clear that the stunt was a confusing and time-consuming dud. He announced he wasn't going to do a speech because we'd all had enough of speeches, then gave a long rambling speech anyway that happened to slip in that he was an early champion of bringing Puckett up from the minors, then proclaimed that was one of the very few smart decisions he'd ever made (notice where all the emphasis is being put?). Kelly then invoked his favorite straw man--the clueless media guy--to showcase his honorability, claiming some unnamed media person asked him why he and all the people were at the Dome. They were there to respect Kirby Puckett, Kelly responded, then abruptly said, "I'm done," and walked away from the mic. Only the last two words were well put.

Hit: Mudcat Grant's surprise cameo and stirring rendition of the song Louie Armstrong made famous, "What A Wonderful World."

Miss: GB Leighton. Maybe there was a reason Leighton was tapped for this gig. But it was never explained to the rest of us.

Many words of great eloquence, grace, and feeling have been uttered in memory of Kirby Puckett since his death on Monday. These are not among them.

Less global warming, more global warmth

"One of the last things I said before I walked out of the room, 'No matter the weather, it'll always be 34 degrees in Minnesota.'"

--Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., recalling his last moments at Kirby Puckett's hospital bedside

Well, he did already have Babe Ruth and Ted Williams...

"God must have really needed a number three hitter, because he took Puck way too soon."

--Former Twins teammate Kent Hrbek, speaking on KFAN (1130 AM) Friday morning

Britt Robson is tied up with other assignments, but is anxious to hear comments on last night's Wolves 96-93 loss to Utah. Did Jaric step up? Was this a winnable game? Is it time to start counting lottery ping-pong balls?