Greg Buckner lives.
He plays, too.
The Timberwolves' nine-year veteran whom teammate Al Jefferson suggested hadn't played "in six months" appeared for a 31-minute performance Tuesday in Charlotte that reversed his team's course and delivered a message to a young team that seemingly had lost its purpose in a long season's final days.
Buckner, who actually hadn't played a minute since March 4, helped revived a team that fell behind by 18 points in the second quarter and still had two opportunities to lead or tie in the final 1.4 seconds.
Coach Randy Wittman summoned Buckner and played sixth man Rashad McCants just three minutes in his return home to North Carolina because he said he didn't feel as if his team "cared too much about playing" to start the game.
Buckner's 31 minutes were more than he had played combined since Jan. 19. He played the entire fourth quarter on a night when Al Jefferson scored 28 of his 40 points after halftime. Those 40 tied Jefferson's career high.
"Greg Buckner, he was the reason why we had the chance to win tonight," Wittman said. "Nobody else. He hadn't played in a couple of months, and he didn't mope. We called and he was ready to play. Our young guys should learn a lesson from that. We're not going to let guys go out and play with no effort or purpose."
After the game, Buckner said he wondered whether he was going to play another minute the rest of the season.
"I didn't seeing this coming at all," said Buckner, who hadn't played since the last time these two teams played on March 4 at Target Center. "Luckily, we weren't playing Phoenix. There's definitely a burning (in his lungs) in a game like that."
McCants sat and Kirk Snyder played just five minutes because Wittman said he wanted to ride Buckner's energy, which helped the Wolves rally from an 18-point, second-quarter deficit.
"He played defense, he played hard," Wittman said. "He shared the ball. He made plays. It wasn't anything more than that."
BOBCATS 121, WOLVES 119: Trailing by 18 points in the second quarter Tuesday and by five points with a minute to play, the Wolves had two chances -- one to lead, one to tie -- in the final 1.4 seconds and failed to score.
Ray Felton's two missed free throws with 13 seconds left kept the Wolves within 120-119, but Randy Foye's direct pass to Al Jefferson on a pick-and-roll was behind Jefferson and went off his outstretch hands out of bounds with 1.4 seconds left.
"It probably should have been a bounce pass," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said. "You have to give him an opportunity to catch it."
The Wolves immediately fouled and when Matt Carroll made one free throw and missed one, the Wolves had the ball back with seven-tenths of a second left. But Jefferson's baseline jumper as time expired hit the front of the rim and bounced away.
"It was a good shot," Jefferson said. "I just missed it."
Wittman figured his team should have scored on both plays.
"We executed," he said. "We just didn't finish the play. That is how you games like that, by making plays down the stretch."
I gotta say I'm not liking how the relationship between Wittman and McCants is developing.
