While I'll be going to the game tonight, I'd be remiss to mention what this game means to me and probably to others who grew up during the KG era. Tonight, they'll be back on TNT for the first time since Dwane Casey's first season, back when everyone still held out hope that a Flip-less, KG-and-Wally-led squad could be a playoff contender, before we were "treated" to several years of tanking and constantly checking in at NBADraft.net and DraftExpress.

(I also realize that a post like this possibly dooms this game to a 25-point blowout loss. For that, I apologize.)

The Wolves playing on TNT coincided with my small-town family getting cable for the first time, which always made me associate the team with the network. They started being featured on national TV matchups on TNT first, back when ESPN wasn't part of their TV package. Their first playoff game was on TNT, and they seemed to be on there at least monthly during the KG era, often for home games that featured KG vs his power forward contemporaries ('Sheed, C-Webb, Duncan, Dirk). TNT generally symbolized that a team was in the relevancy picture, which became a stronger connection when Harlan moved on from the Wolves to TNT and frequently called their games. Most of their memorable playoff games were on TNT (Game 3 of the first round in '03, Game 4 vs. Denver in '04, Game 7 vs. Sacto), even when TNT went from having 3 nights a week to 1.

Obviously, they returned to national TV last year emphatically in LA (and then with a thud at home against the Suns). To me, this one means more. It's great that Harlan's calling the game (it seems fitting, even though Marv would've brought some added gravitas to the situation), even if that means the worst commentator on national TV (Reggie Miller) is joining him (at least they balanced out the worst with the best in C-Webb); also, the game is the only one on at that time (the non-TNT game is in Portland). At least for me as a fan, this is a milestone. Tomorrow, I can go back to complaining about the legitimate issues, but something about this is special.