"The presence of David Lee in the lineup, after an eight-game absence, paid immediate and obvious dividends.

He scored only 10 points, missing 10 of his 15 shots. He grabbed only six rebounds, five shy of his average. Still, his 42-plus minutes Saturday were a big factor in the Warriors' 104-94 win over the Minnesota.

Lee took attention away from guard Monta Ellis, who finished with 26 points, 10 assists and seven steals. He got open looks for small forward Dorell Wright, who set a franchise record with nine 3-pointers en route to a career-high 30 points.

Most important, Lee injected life into the Warriors (8-9), who were in the dumps thanks to a five-game losing streak.

"You don't know how bad it was when I was sitting in the hospital bed or sitting by the TV watching games," Lee said. "That's miserable. I'm just happy I was able to come back and help the team get back to winning ways."

Before the game, Lee cautioned that he might have only 12 to 15 minutes in him. It made sense considering he hadn't played in a game since Nov. 10 because of an infected left elbow that required two surgeries to clean out.

But Lee had planned to play more, and coach Keith Smart had plans to play Lee more. "We had (paramedics) on the side, ready," said Smart, who played Lee the first 16 minutes of the game. "He was going to play. We've got a day off. Whatever tightens up, tightens up."

Lee said his wind was much better than he expected. But he said he didn't have the legs to go after rebounds as normal. (The Warriors got killed on the glass, 55-32.) Also, his still-hurting left elbow prevented him from banging in the paint -- making him less of an obstacle for Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, who finished with 21 points and 22 rebounds -- and getting arc on his jump shot.

Still, the Warriors outscored Minnesota by 14 with Lee on the court. "