Still, good vibes the Wolves snuffed by losing eight straight games following a season-opening victory over Sacramento returned for one afternoon at least.

"More relaxed state of mind but still very focused, which was good to see," coach Randy Wittman said after practice. "You can see the smiles on the faces and a little bit more relaxed atmosphere."

After watching tape of Minnesota's 102-96 win over the 76ers, Wittman was impressed his team finally put away an opponent in the fourth quarter instead of withering.

He pointed to consecutive Philadelphia scores that trimmed the Wolves' lead from 10 points to six with five minutes remaining -- an Andre Miller 21-foot jumper as the shot clock wound down and Elton Brand's putback after Kevin Love rejected him.

"We didn't let those plays affect us. We went right back down and countered," Wittman said. "Those are the things we have to do. Maybe in the past, two shots like that in particular go in late in the game -- 'oh, gosh, here we go again. I don't want the ball.'

"We went down and executed. We countered their scores to keep them at bay. That's a step in a positive direction."

Al Jefferson stole the show with 25 points, including three pivotal buckets in the waning minutes before assisting on Mike Miller's game-clinching three-pointer with 30.4 seconds left.

But Craig Smith might have been the Wolves' most important player. He contributed 21 points off the bench, including 13 in the first half, and added five assists in 25 minutes -- all season highs.

All after scoring 16 combined points in his previous three games, including one point in Sunday's loss at Denver.

"I just have to tell myself you know you're going to have certain nights like that," Smith said. "Don't let it be consistent. Try to be assertive and be aggressive out there whether I'm making plays for my team or scoring or whatever."

The 6-7, 250-pound power forward even ran the fast break a couple times up the floor, prompting Wittman to joke he was angling for the third point-guard slot behind Randy Foye and Sebastian Telfair.

"I'm never surprised by it because Craig can do those things," Wittman said about Smith's production. "Craig's a good scorer. He's a good facilitator of the ball for us from the high post."

McCants update: Guard Rashad McCants, who left Wednesday's game in the second quarter because of back spasms, did not practice Thursday and his status is day to day.

"He didn't feel much better today than he was last night," Wittman said.

Briefly: A Wolves spokesman said as of early Thursday afternoon about 2,000 tickets remained for tonight's game against the Celtics, who played the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night in Boston.

Garnett has not played a game at Target Center since the end of the 2006-07 season. Last February, he was injured and watched Boston's 88-86 win from the locker room.