Casey, Timberwolves travel to Seattle

Last season, the SuperSonics won three of four from the Timberwolves. Overall, the road team has won six of the last eight meetings in this series. Minnesota has lost six of nine and nine of its last 13 at Seattle.

In Minnesota’s season-opener, Kevin Garnett scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists to lift the Timberwolves over the Portland Trail Blazers, 90-86, on Wednesday at the Target Center.

Richie Frahm hit five three-pointers and scored 18 points, while Wally Szczerbiak had 16 points and Marko Jaric scored 14 points for Minnesota, which got head coach Dwane Casey his first NBA victory in the season opener for both teams. Rookie Rashad McCants scored six points on 3-of-12 shooting in his NBA debut for the Timberwolves.

Casey will face the team that he left for Minnesota. The Timberwolves, who relieved head coach Flip Saunders of his duties during last season, hired Casey as the new general of the club on June 17. Casey landed in Minnesota after spending 11 years on the coaching staff of the SuperSonics, including the last four as associate head coach. Prior to joining Seattle for the 1994-95 campaign, he served as a head coach in Japan for five years.

The Timberwolves will conclude a brief two-game road trip on Saturday, as they will visit Cuttino Mobley and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Seattle, which won a surprising 52 games last season, and new head coach Bob Weiss started the season off on the wrong foot on Wednesday, as it dropped a 101-93 decision to the Los Angeles Clippers at KeyArena.

Ray Allen had 31 points, while fellow All-Star Rashard Lewis scored 18 for the Sonics, who connected on 41.3 percent of their field goal attempts. Point guard Luke Ridnour finished with seven assists in the loss for Seattle.

After tonight’s contest, the Sonics will embark on a six-game road trip. They will visit Memphis, Cleveland, Washington, Toronto, New Jersey and Boston on the swing.