"Not being able to be able to even bring in some size with Mike Miller and just some more size after Gomes went out," McHale said. "That's unfortunate, but that's where we're at right now with Mike Miller not playing and Brew hurt."

Anthony scored 33 of his 45 points during the third period, tying an NBA record and breaking the team mark, in leading the Nuggets to a 116-105 victory.

Rashad McCants got his second straight start at shooting guard in place of Miller, who remains day to day.

Asked if Miller is getting closer, McHale said, "He better be."

Silver lining: If there was a bright spot to the Wolves' latest loss, it was the performance of rookie forward Kevin Love, who missed four late free throws in Tuesday's 99-96 loss to Utah.

In addition to scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, Love went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line and said it felt good to put his 2-for-9 night against the Jazz behind him.

"It definitely did just because (Tuesday) night was more than uncharacteristic of what I'm used to," he said. "I've never had a night from the line like that. That game was on me, but it felt good to knock those down tonight."

"Kevin's a tough kid," McHale said. "He's a tiger. He'll be fine. That kid can play Basketball."

One man's opinion: Anthony Carter thinks McHale will be "a lot better" in his second coaching stint than he was in his first, and the Nuggets' 10th-year guard should know.

Carter, who was with the Wolves in 2005 when McHale went 19-12 as an interim coach after he fired Flip Saunders, told the Rocky Mountain News that the Hall of Fame player's first try at coaching was a learning experience.

"He didn't really know all the X's and O's, but he had a good assistant coaching staff that was helping him out with a lot of plays," Carter said. "He kind of let us run whatever we wanted. He was trying to draw plays, and it was like a little Etch A Sketch. Like a kid just messing around. He just gave the clipboard to the assistant coaches sometimes."

Informed of those comments before Wednesday's game, McHale said he definitely comes from the seat-of-the-pants school of coaching.

"It's much more by feel and much more by matchups and much more by who's going and stuff like that," he said. "I learned a couple things from Red Auerbach: Go at their bad defenders and go where they ain't on offense, and those things seem to work."

Meet the press: In his first road stop since taking the coaching job, McHale was asked about the widespread perception that he did so reluctantly.

"If I didn't want to coach this team, I wouldn't have," he said.

Asked if he could see himself coaching in three or four years, McHale said: "I'm committed to being with these guys for a time. Like I told Al (Jefferson), I said, 'Al, when we win a championship, the last thing you'll see of me is my rear end running out the door.' "

Holiday cheer: The Timberwolves Fastbreak Foundation will hold its fourth annual "Holiday Shopping for Kids" event today at Target Center.