He has started each of the past seven games at point guard. The Wolves are 5-2 in that stretch, including a 105-103 victory over Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns last week. In those seven games, Telfair is averaging 36 minutes, 11.6 points and 6.7 assists.

Tonight, Telfair is again starting and faces the daunting task of trying to shut down New Orleans' Chris Paul, one of the league's best point guards.

"Chris Paul, man, he dribbles the air out of the ball," Telfair said of the Hornets star, who comes into tonight's game averaging almost 38 minutes, 21.2 points and 11 assists a game. "Sometimes you're playing defense and you're like, `Man, just pass the ball!' (But) you just try and stay focused, stay in front of his body and not let him into the paint."

In Wolves coach Kevin McHale's mind, the instant Suns coach Mike D'Antoni put the ball in Nash's hands in 2004 and presumably said `go at it,' the point guard position was forever altered. Nash's back-to-back league MVP honors (2005, 2006) cemented the change. Gone are the days of point guards being seen as just the initiators of offense. Now they sometimes are the offense's beginning, middle and end.

"There are times where Steve will dribble the ball 25 times, make one pass and get an assist on it," McHale said. "I've never been a big fan of that, but that worked well for them."

Others, Paul being the most notable example, have followed in Nash's path, controlling the ball and the tempo.

The Hornets' do-everything guard, Paul enters tonight's game already an All-Star, all-league and all-defensive player in his three-plus NBA seasons. Last summer, he became an Olympic gold medalist, and this season he's hearing whispers of MVP consideration.

"He's a heck of a Basketball player," McHale said. "I'm sure we won't come up with something new that somebody else hasn't tried on him already. We just have to give him different coverages and change up what we're doing a little bit and try and attack him on the other end."

The Timberwolves' first point guard, 1989 first-round pick Pooh Richardson, is in the Twin Cities (as part of the Wolves' 20th anniversary celebration) and said playing your game is more important than focusing on someone else's, even if that someone else is Chris Paul.

"If (Paul) doesn't make the play directly, he's going to make the play to the guy who's going to make the play," said Richardson, who played 10 NBA seasons and now works in player development in Los Angeles. "That's seeing the game three, four steps ahead. All Sebastian has to do is go out, play his game and be competitive. Do the things you're comfortable with."

Wolves guard Randy Foye, who is averaging more than 20 points a game in January, agrees that keeping the game simple is key.

"Your game never changes," he said. "(Paul) is their engine that makes the car go. You slow down the engine a little bit, you slow down the car."

Telfair, though, said Paul might merit at least a bit of special attention.

"You know you gotta go down offensively and attack him," Telfair said. "If you're not attacking, you're going to be on your heels all night."