Showing 'em how it's done: Wolves lose 104-92

Kurt Rambis got his eighth NBA championship ring tonight in a pre-game ceremony at Staples Center, where a video montage of the formerly bespectacled one eventually declared "Always a Laker."

Rambis concurred after his former team put away his new one with a 14-3 burst that finished the third quarter and all but assured the Lakers' winning streak would reach 11 games while the Wolves lost for the 20th time in their first 23 games.

The 2007-08 Wolves -- the Randy Wittman-coached collection the first season after Kevin Garnett was traded away -- started their season 3-21, a franchise worst these Wolves could reach Saturday night in Sacramento.

Kevin Love tied a career high with 19 rebounds in his first start, exactly a week after he returned from that broken hand that caused him to miss the season's first 18 games.

Pau Gasol did Love one better, and grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds on a night when the Lakers once again that size and length has its advantages, particularly against a Wolves team that's undersized up front.

Love's 3-for-14 shooting night showed how the Lakers' length -- Gasol and Bynum starting, Odom coming off the bench -- troubles the Lakers.

"They're such a big team, a long team," said Wolves forward Al Jefferson, whose 24-point, 13-rebound night was his fifth consecutive double-double. "We're a small team."

It might not happen this season, next summer or even next season, but eventually -- if they haven't already started to -- Rambis and David Kahn will conclude that Kevin McHale's vision for the future might get the Wolves someday to 40 wins, but it won't take them to 50 and well beyond.

Another thing about tonight that's been a popular topic on this blog already: It's becoming more and more clear that while this team lacks bonafide NBA players, Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions both are among that handful.

They split the 48 minutes again tonight, Sessions bumped up from the 14 he played Wednesday to nearly 23 on a night when he made his first six shots, finished 7 for 9 and offered 15 points off the bench.

You're 3-20. You're playing purposely for the lottery. Play them together and see what they do.

It's going to be the only way to keep them both happy long term and it's the best way to keep Sessions' value up, just in case the right deal involved other big parts comes along eventually.

Ryan Gomes' string of double-digit scoring games ended at six games. He had averaged 20.3 in those six games, but tonight scored just four on 2-for-6 shooting matched up against Ron Artest a good bit of the night.

Corey Brewer made as many or more shots than he missed (4 for 8 tonight) for the fifth time in 23 games this season, including a startling dunk over Derek Fisher's head that caused the Staples Center crowd to both gasp and clamor for a charging call that never came.

The Wolves flew from L.A. tonight to Sacramento, where they will play the Kings tomorrow night (Saturday) in the second game of this three-game trip that ends Monday in Utah.

Here's the game story I cobbled together on a late West Coast deadline from tonight's game: