To the uninitiated, all the silk-purse talk after the sow's ear of another Timberwolves defeat -- a 96-91 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday at First Union Center -- might have sounded suspiciously, even gallingly, like the stuff of moral victories.

Those things were supposed to have been abandoned by this franchise around the time Hootie and his blowfish were big.

Yet as a snapshot of where the Wolves were late Wednesday, compared with their predicament 24 hours earlier, the half-full vs. half-empty outlook might have been a necessary step.

Losing by five points to an NBA Finals team is a lot better than losing by 33 to lottery dwellers.

Having a chance to win in the final minute beats the heck out of garbage time that lasts a whole quarter. Getting one guy off offensively is progress for an attack that was thoroughly discombobulated in Cleveland.

So when coach Flip Saunders and the players started dropping buzzwords such as energy, confidence, competing, pride and restoring Wally Szczerbiak's scoring, their optimism in climbing out of a two-week hole raised more hopes than red flags.