J.J. Barea (photo. Javier Pesquera)

The Timberwolves got a nice win in Denver, 101-97, on the second night of a back-to-back but it didn’t come without a big worry. Kevin Love left in the second half with a sprained finger on his right hand and re-aggravated worries after he’d sat out most the first six weeks of the season with that hand broken. No worries, because J.J. Barea came to the rescue to cut down in surprisingly easy fashion the Denver team that had knocked off the Clippers’ 17-game streak. He scored 12 points (he had 17 overall) in the fourth quarter. … Oscar Robertson, Gary Payton, John Stockton, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash all have 15,000 points and 7,500 dimes in a career. Who joined that club Thursday night? The ageless point, Andre Miller. If you know his game you’ll know it took him longer to get to the 15K points than the assists plateau. Kidding aside it’s pretty cool for Miller, who’s always seemed like a guard who does it the right way without drawing attention to himself. Plus, he throws the best alley-oops in the NBA.  … The Gallinari vs. Love matchup featured some of the nastiest facial hair in the league, and not in a good way. Love is going full Grizzly Adams, but Gallo is cutting his scruff above the throat but below the jaw. Interesting look. … J.R. Smith got the biggest dunk of the night but Corey Brewer‘s layup on the break ahead of Dante Cunningham was probably the hardest bucket to make between either game. His bucket came off a steal and Cunningham rocked him at the rim for an and-one to go up six with 90 seconds left in the third quarter. Brewer (12 points) has really been playing well lately, and that bucket looked straight out of his Florida days. … A design firm asked fans to submit logos for the soon-to-be renamed New Orleans Pelicans, and a lot of them are pretty dope. That first look is sharp, and a few of them that mix in the trumpet (another classic NOLA theme) are really nice. The looks are growing on us. The Pelican name? Nah. … And the 12th annual Jordan Brand Classic, one of the premier high school all-star games, is moving to the Barclays Center this spring. It’ll be on April 13 this year after being held in Charlotte before. … We’re out like Kansas State.

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