By Bob Sansevere

Like most people at Target Center on Sunday evening, NBA superfan Jimmy Goldstein was pulling for Timberwolves guard Sam Cassell and his achy back.
"If Sam plays at a healthy level, I think Minnesota wins,'' Goldstein said before Game 2 of the Western Conference finals between the Wolves and Los Angeles Lakers. "I predicted a split here. I'm sticking with it if Sam is healthy.''
Cassell started the game, but lasted only 43 seconds before limping off the court. He made a beeline for the Wolves'locker room, never to return. You would have thought, as Goldstein did, that the Wolves would be in trouble.
They weren't.
The Wolves earned the split Goldstein predicted, even with Cassell hurt. Behind impressive performances by Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak, the Wolves routed the Lakers 89-71 to send this best-of-seven series to Los Angeles tied at 1-1.
"Very surprised,'' Goldstein said. "And very pleased.''
And very hopeful that Cassell's back allows him to play in Game 3 Tuesday night. Goldstein considers Cassell a friend.
He will proudly recount for you the time ESPN shot footage of him guarding Cassell at a practice when Cassell was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks.
"He took a jump shot and missed,'' Goldstein said, a smile creasing his face.
Goldstein and Cassell go way back. They met when Cassell was a rookie with the Houston Rockets and Goldstein was what he remains today: the NBA's biggest, most flamboyantly dressed, well-traveled fan.
He was in Minnesota on Friday night for Game 1 between the Lakers and Wolves. He went to Indianapolis on Saturday to catch the Indiana Pacers' victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Then back to Minnesota on Sunday for the Wolves win.
Goldstein, who lives in the Los Angeles area and has season tickets to Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers home games, has attended games in every Western Conference series played this postseason. He was a courtside fixture at Target Center and ARCO Arena during the Wolves' semifinal series with Sacramento. He sat a few feet from the Lakers'
bench for Sunday night's game, the 26th he has attended this postseason.
If Jimmy Goldstein is at a game, you know it. He's easy to spot. He makes two trips a year to Paris and Milan to add the latest fashions to a wardrobe that jumps out at you.
"I'm not a T-shirt-and-jeans guy,'' he said.
He calls his look "cutting edge'' and claims he never wears anything more than six months. (Many T-shirt-and-jeans guys wouldn't wear some of his clothes for one minute.)
For Sunday's game, Goldstein's wiry gray hair stuck out from under a light blue fedora-style straw hat with a red band made of python. The multicolored scarf around his neck matched his Roberto Cavalli-designed flower- and leopard-print shirt. His light-green pants were cinched up with a black belt that had a buckle the size of a flapjack.
His green python boots complemented the slacks.
"You do notice him,'' said Brent Musburger, who called Sunday night's game for ESPN radio. "I would call him the NBA's No. 1 superfan.''
Goldstein knows just about everyone courtside, particularly the players and coaches.
"This is my ninth straight year doing the conference finals and finals for ESPN radio, and as long as I've been around, Jimmy has been in attendance,'' Musburger said. "And I know he was around before me. It wouldn't be an NBA Finals series if Jimmy wasn't around.''
If Goldstein got his wish, the Wolves would beat the Lakers and advance to the championship round. Even though he has those Lakers season tickets.
"I'm not a Laker fan. I'm an NBA fan,'' he said. "Regrettably, I think it'll be the Lakers in six. I'd like to see the Wolves do it.''
If they do, he will be there to watch them in the NBA Finals.
Goldstein will talk about the NBA all day long, but he's elusive when it comes to how he made the kind of money it takes to jet-set from one NBA playoff game to another. He admits to being an entrepreneur and hands out an oversize business card that lists fashion, architecture and basketball as his occupations or, as ESPN magazine once noted, his "(pre)occupations.''
"An article once said I'm a billionaire,'' Goldstein said. "I'm not a billionaire.''
He is wealthy enough to own a 4,100-square-foot glass-and-concrete showpiece home that overlooks Beverly Hills and was featured in "The Big Lebowski" and "Charlie's Angels II.'' He will be back in that house for several days as this series swings to Los Angeles for games 3 and 4.
And then he will be back here for the Game 5 the Wolves guaranteed with Sunday night's win.