MINNEAPOLIS—Sure, it’s easy to look good when you don’t miss a three-point shot, but take away the Timberwolves’ sizzling percentages and there still was plenty for a sizable preseason audience to go home buzzing about after a 117-96 victory over Milwaukee.

How could you tell?

Well, for one thing: The Target Center public-address announcer informed the many fans still left in their seats late in the game that extra ticket representatives were on hand and ready for them as they headed out of the arena into the good night.

For another, those who watched Ricky Rubio, Derrick Williams and new coach Rick Adelman make successful debuts went home already feeling better about that 2012 first-round pick surrendered for Marko Jaric so long ago and lamenting the lockout-shortened 66-game regular season prohibits their home team from chasing the Chicago Bulls’ all-time victory record of 72.

“Overall, I thought it was a good effort,” Adelman said.

He had just eight practices to teach a significantly reformed team his “corner” offense and try to transform just a little bit a team that led the National Basketball Association (NBA) last season in turnovers and defensive ambivalence.

The result:

• The Wolves made 10-of-11 three-point shot attempts in the first half alone and used a 31-12 run that closed the half to grasp command of the game.

• Rubio captivated the crowd from beginning to end, inspiring some to shout for him from the game’s opening seconds—when he watched from the bench—until they oohed and aahed when his hesitation dribble sent Bucks guard Shawn Livingston stumbling and when his simple bounce pass on a fast break led to a J.J. Barea lay-up.

• They demonstrated that a smallish frontcourt of Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and rookie Derrick Williams—three of their better players whose most natural position each might be power forward—can play together...and perhaps then some.

Love is 25 pounds lighter than last season, but he continues to compile double-double nights in points and rebounds by halftime.

Last season, he did that 16 times. On Saturday he had 15 points and 11 rebounds by intermission on a night when he and Beasley each scored 21 points despite not playing at all in the fourth quarter.

After suffering through seasons of 15 and 17 victories the past two years, Timberwolves fans went home happy, particularly with finally seeing Rubio after a long two-year wait.

“Yeah, they loved him,” Beasley said. “He made simple bounce passes, and they were in awe.”

Shortly after Rubio lobbed an alley-oop pass that Williams powerfully slammed down in the fourth quarter, that awe turned into audible chants of “Ole, ole, ole,” as soccer fans do back home in Rubio’s native Spain.

“Great. It’s amazing,” Rubio said of his first NBA game, even if it’s preseason. “How all I want to say thank you everybody, thank you for being here, for you supporting the team. I hope we come back with winnings and try to get in the playoffs.

“Who knows? We will try hard. We’re practicing hard. That’s our goal.”

Knicks take out the Nets

THE New York Knicks on Saturday played their first—and next-to-last—exhibition game of this shortened preseason.

With only one more preseason game before the Christmas Day opener against the Celtics, the Knicks have to make quick assessments about who, what and where they are.

Could they be title contenders? Why not, coach Mike D’Antoni said before getting his first look at the new front line of Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler.

“Realistically, I think we should,” D’Antoni said before the Knicks beat the Nets, 92-83, at the Prudential Center. “I’m not trying to say, ‘Oh, wow, look at us.’ I think we have a lot of talent. We’ll have some question marks going through the season, but almost every team has those question marks. Miami had them last year. Until we show that, I think our talent level is up with anybody, and that’s why we should compete.”

D’Antoni’s original comments about the Knicks’ title-worthiness came during a pair of radio interviews on Friday.

“I agree with him,” Chandler said after recording four points, four rebounds and three steals in 27 minutes and 23 seconds in his Knicks debut. “Your goal should be to win a championship whenever you lace them up. I understand we just came together, but I would be sitting here lying to you if I didn’t say that was my goal. When you come here and you’ve got the talent that we have, that should be your goal.”

Chandler, who anchored the defense for the NBA champion Mavericks before signing with the Knicks, played the most minutes of the Big Three. Stoudemire had 10 points and six rebounds in 25:06. Anthony scored 17 points in 22:17.

It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t supposed to be in the Knicks’ first game after the lockout.

“I thought the ball stuck a lot,” D’Antoni said. “We weren’t quite sure what we were doing a lot of times. Definitely looked like an early preseason game. So I’m not too excited about it, but it’ll be OK.”

Asked what he liked most about Chandler’s debut, D’Antoni said: “Won a championship. That’s all. I think he’s really good. He just solidifies everything. The guy’s a presence on and off the court. When you have somebody leading the charge on defense and talking and doing all of those type things, it makes the coaching really easy. He does that. He can play. We missed him about 10 times rolling down the middle. That’ll come.”

D’Antoni said he thought point guards Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby “struggled a little bit early. Better toward the end.” Douglas had five points and five assists in 30:15. Bibby had five points and three assists in 15:11.

Point guard is one of the obvious weaknesses on the Knicks’ roster, which is why they are thinking about picking up veteran free agent Baron Davis, who has a bad back.

“It’s worth the risk of exploring it,” D’Antoni said. “I’m sure [General Manager Glen Grunwald] is going to do everything and the medical staff will look and see and come up with a good conclusion. He’s an interesting player. I’m sure a lot of teams are doing the same thing…evaluating in a short season whether it’s worth it or not. He’s a very good basketball player.”

The Knicks have a lot of those. It’s why during the regular season their leading scorer probably never will be Renaldo Balkman, who had 20 on Saturday. Rookie Iman Shumpert had 16 points in an impressive pro debut.

Brook Lopez and Anthony Morrow had 15 points each for the Nets.

The fast-paced preseason ends on Wednesday when the Knicks host the Nets at the Garden.

(With Newsday)