Minnesota’s native interim coach is 0-1 after today’s action, but Dan Shaughnessy harkens back to his days with the Celtics. From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune’s Patrick Reusse.

Dan Shaughnessy was covering the Celtics for the Boston Globe at the time. He was taken aback Saturday, when told that McHale had fired Saunders and would be taking over as the Wolves coach for the final 31 games of this flop of a season.

“Kevin as a coach … wow!” Shaughnessy said. “It’s interesting, because no one was more irreverent as a player than Kevin, especially toward Fitch. If Fitch told Kevin to go left, he would go right.

“Fitch used to close the gym to reporters. Kevin would say, ‘Yeah, he doesn’t want anyone to see the seven plays the Celtics have been running for the past 35 years.’

“Kevin also loved to needle Bill Walton when he came to Boston late in his career. Kevin would say, ‘I remember watching you on those grainy, black-and-white films, Bill. You’re not as good in color as you were in black and white.’ ”

The Boston media gave McHale the nickname “4-1-1,” since he was the Celtic that reporters went to for information.

Congrats to Tim Thomas (above) and the New York Knicks, who ran their record over the past 20 games to a sparkling 3-17 with today’s last second 102-99 win over the Emaka Okafor-less Charlotte Bobcats.