A terrific all-around effort resulted in Minnesota's first victory of the season, a 108-103 win over the Sacramento Kings. Rashad McCants hit some huge shots in the fourth quarter en route to a career-high 33 points, while Antoine Walker added 19 off the bench.

We were on-hand to game blog our way through a contest in which Minnesota outrebounded the Kings 41-26, got to the foul line 22 times and hit 53.2 percent of its shots. The Wolves also dominated the paint 48-26 and limited Sacramento to three offensive rebounds.

Pregame Notes
-- Let's start about an hour before tipoff:

-- Spencer Hawes interview: In May, several potential draft picks shuffled through Target Center for organized workouts down in Minnesota's practice facility: Corey Brewer, Julian Wright, Joakim Noah, Al Thornton and Kings rookie center Spencer Hawes were among those we spoke with for the website. Hawes talked briefly in front of a big group, and the Q&A session was predictably vanilla. However, before the game by the Kings bench, I spoke to Hawes for a good five minutes, and he was cerebral, reflective and interesting. Stay tuned for a separate article on that.

-- After speaking to Hawes, I had to catch up with former Wolves and now Kings assistant Rex Kalamian, who was absolutely terrific to work with last season. Any time we needed anything for the website, he was ready and willing to help, and his analysis was spot on. Fortunately for us, J.B. Bickerstaff, Ed Pinckney, Jerry Sichting and Bob Ociepka have been terrific as well ... But we still miss Rex. We'll get to what he had to say soon as well. OK, let's get to the game.

First Quarter
- Tonight was the first game in which the general feeling seemed to be, "Minnesota should win this one." Why? Sure, the Wolves have been in every game, and had a chance to beat Sacramento at ARCO, but the talent level is comparable enough on both rosters to make me pretty uneasy heading into the game. If betting were legal and I had to take a side, I'd go with the Wolves, but with Ron Artest playing in his first game of the year, Craig Smith in dress clothes with a hurt ankle and Greg Buckner battling the flu, it's certainly no gimme. The Wolves have started every game strong, but I'm guessing this will be the first time Minnesota struggles out of the gate. Hopefully, they get angry about it and start force-feeding Big Al down low. Mikki Moore and Brad Miller shouldn't be able to guard him, and it'll be up to McCants to lead the perimeter scoring charge as the Kings bring double- and triple-teams on Jefferson.

-- It will be interesting to see how Corey Brewer plays after seeing the same opponent for the second time. He's a smart enough player to be able to make adjustments from game-to-game, and furthermore, Sacramento has some guys (Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia, John Salmons) that have at least similar builds. Martin is listed at 185 pounds (same as Brewer), Garcia 195 and Salmons 207. Artest, however, is not a great matchup for Corey, but if he rotates over there, perhaps he'll at least be able to keep Ron in front and make him shoot jumpers. That said, we should see Ryan Gomes and Antoine Walker on Artest for the most part. Bickerstaff shed some light on guarding Artest, and the most salient point was you simply can't let him catch it too low or allow him to back you down, because there's nothing you can do to keep him from scoring. He's not small or weak.

-- As we look at the first quarter box score, the 21-21 score is pretty fair. Like we expected, the Wolves started slowly, letting Sac jump out 7-1, but responded with seven points from Jefferson and five from McCants to get back into the mix. Minnesota shot a solid 47.1 percent from the field to Sac's 43.5, and the Wolves grabbed three more rebounds (11-8). The Wolves did turn the ball over six times in the quarter, but Minnesota scored 10 points in the paint. Looks like they'll have a low-post scoring edge all night, and the board work should improve.

Second Quarter:
-- The Timberwolves Dancers did a dance to the "What Choo Know 'Bout Me" song, but I couldn't see it as the players blocked the view from press row in the timeout huddle. Before the game, two of the ladies took us through a practice and gameday, about which you'll hear in a coming article. It's harder work than you think to be a professional dancer...

-- With 6:45 to go in the period, Al Jefferson did exactly what Wittman asked for by throwing it down hard right in Hawes' face after catching it on the low block. As we mentioned in the "Wolves Practice Update" (is that what I called it?) on Tuesday, Wittman wanted Jefferson to take the ball aggressively to the rim as often as possible, and either get to the line or stuff it on someone. Witt has also said that Al is very coachable, and we just saw an example of that.

-- With 5:46 remaining, we just saw another very touching presentation featuring a brave Purple Heart recipient to a decorated soldier returning from Iraq. Watery eyes all-around on an extended standing ovation...

-- Antoine Walker is hitting the three tonight, hitting his second consecutive to give Minnesota a 38-34 lead. That's eight points off the bench.

-- It's almost ridiculous at this point, but another Wolf went down with a sprained ankle, or at least that's what it looked like when Sebastian Telfair limped off he floor with 2:23 remaining and a 40-39 lead. Actually, it could be that he tweaked his injured foot? No reason to speculate, but so much for catching a break ... Trainer Gregg Farnam helped Telfair into the locker room, and we should be getting a note from the PR staff as to his availability.

-- Kevin Martin didn't hit his first shot until 1:21 left in the half. However, he didn't do much in the first half of Saturday's game either ... He scored only five in the first half of the Kings win, but had 24 in the second half. That would suck if it happens again. Anyways, the Wolves would have headed into halftime down one, but McCants went for an offensive rebound and fouled Beno Udrih with 1.6 seconds left, resulting in a 48-45 Kings lead. Still, McCants was solid in the period, contributing eight points (13 total), the same total as Jefferson, who also grabbed six boards to lead the way. Brad Miller led Sac with 10 points. In related news, Sac is fun to type.

Third Quarter
-- We didn't update at halftime today because, at last word, wireless is coming soon into the Target Center lower bowl. As such, I'll actually be able to blog live, and we can set up a system where people can email in thoughts, insults and what have you to be answered and discussed throughout. Plus, I can check my fantasy basketball stats (three leagues), which literally is job training.

-- Telfair had seven assists and three steals off the bench, and though he again shot poorly from the field (1-of-4), Minnesota will definitely miss him if he can't come back in.

-- McCants and Francisco Garcia are going at each other hard, in a rivalry dating back to days at North Carolina and Louisville. McCants has four points on two pretty moves (one a leaner and the other on a smooth J off a curl) with Garcia defending, and Francisco hit a reverse down low with McCants chasing. There's a bit of extra-curricular activity going on when these guys travel up and down the floor, but nothing dirty. The larger point here is that McCants is getting all of his shots within the offense, and Minnesota's really been able to establish an inside-outside game with Shaddy and Jefferson. This could bode well for the future, without question.

-- Randy Wittman has had the Wolves looking good in most first and third quarters this season, and tonight's third period was no exception. With McCants leading the way, the Wolves took a one-point lead into a timeout halfway through the period, a stint punctuated by a fierce Ratliff rejection of a hard-charging Ron Artest. At 246 pounds, Artest has a linebacker build, but Theo is less likely to shy away from a potential swat than the Patriots are to run up the score in the fourth quarter.

-- Four straight points from Ratliff and a slick up-fake/dribble-drive from Walker gave Minnesota a 67-64 edge, a six-point turnaround this quarter that's impressive considering Telfair's (and Foye's) absence at the point. That's in part because Jaric has been solid running the show. He took advantage of a pick and roll by taking Spencer Hawes to the rim for a nice finish, then cleared the board on an Artest miss at the buzzer to protect a 71-69 edge heading into the fourth. Jaric has been terrific on the glass tonight, and McCants has joined him and the front line in gang-rebounding. Very nice to see ... Wittman will probably say so after the game. Jefferson now has 17 and seven, McCants 19 and four with the Wolves hitting 51 percent of their shots.

-- Nice clothing combo from a fan here: Philadelphia Eagles hat, Wolves sweater and Champlin Park pants. Solid.

Fourth Quarter:
-- The most outstanding statistic thus far is Minnesota outrebounding Sacramento 34-20. In the third quarter, the Wolves claimed a 16-4 advantage on the glass. On the negative side, Minny has only gotten to the FT line eight times tonight. Fortunately, the Kings share that stat (though they've made eight to the Wolves' five).

-- Good sign with 11:16 remaining as Telfair checks back into the game, but we'll keep an eye on how he's moving.

-- With 8:20 remaining and Minnesota up 79-77, Kevin Martin was going to the hole in transition (he had 13 points at that point) and Telfair reached in for a steal. Now, it seemed that in the first five games, any time a Wolf paw found its way near another player, the refs immediately whistled a foul. No call here, and we're going the other way. I'm taking it to be a good sign and guaranteeing a victory. This is maybe the first big break of the season.

-- Almost literally right after typing that, the refs decided not to call a blatantly obvious Artest travel before awarding Sacramento the ball after a King clearly hit the ball out of bounds. Awesome. Not.

-- McCants looks terrific offensively, showcasing his (really impressive) array of moves once again on a step-back J to give Minny a 88-87 lead. He was able to get the shot in the first place thanks to two offensive rebounds from the Wolves, who now own a 39-24 edge on the glass. A possession later, McCants came with a terrific delay move to the rack and finished off the glass for his 26th point and a 91-87 advantage with 3:35 to go. His career high is 28, so it looks like he'll surpass that mark.

-- Speaking of McCants, he just hit an enormous shot, burying a very, very deep three (from either Farmington, or at least Chaska) as the shot clock ran down. Freaking Artest answered with a three of his own, but Walker scored his 17th point on another sleek baseline move to make it 96-90 Minnesota. The McCants show continued after a great hustle play by Jaric, with a hanging, leaning, high-level-of-difficulty left-handed (that's descriptive, huh) shot in the lane for a 98-90 lead with 1:52 to go. Is it too far to say that the Wolves have found a fourth-quarter closer, particularly until Foye gets back and you can go Foye/McCants/Jefferson? Maybe so, but Shaddy is certainly doing it tonight. That's 29 points, 12 in the quarter.

-- What a game from Antoine Walker. His 19th point came in bailout style with the clock running down on a difficult leaner in the lane for a ten-point lead. Nice ovation from the fans after that J...

-- McCants and Jaric sealed the deal at the free-throw line in what was a nice win for the Wolves. That's one victory and counting.

-- Make sure to check back with us for postgame audio from Randy Foye and Rashad McCants and general quotes from both teams in addition to Randy Wittman's postgame press conference, which will be in our video player before 11:00 p.m.