One of the best stories of the first half of the season was the emergence of Nikola Pekovic as the Minnesota Timberwolves' starting center. The bruising 26-year-old Montenegrin has been a revelation for coach Rick Adelman, overpowering opponents down low, beasting on the offensive boards and pairing with All-Star power forward Kevin Love to give the resurgent Wolves a frontcourt duo capable of battling even the best out West. Of course, for every rising star, there's also a setting sun. In this case, it's gotten pretty dark for former Minnesota starter Darko Milicic, whose injury earlier this season opened the door for Pekovic to play Wally Pipp, and who has been all but cast aside since Pekovic's arrival on the NBA scene. In theory, then, Pekovic's recent foot and ankle injuries — which led to him being sent back to Minnesota for treatment on Wednesday, meaning he'll miss the last two games of the Wolves' road trip — could have offered a nice bit of duality for Darko, a chance to prove turnabout's fair play by providing some fair play of his own. It didn't work out that way, though. After not playing for eight days, receiving DNP-CDs against the New Orleans Hornets,...