Nuggets 119, Wolves 113 and other stuff

The Nuggets came to town Wednesday night on the second half of back-to-back games and without Carmelo Anthony

and...

Nene and Kenyon Martin and Al Harrington...

and they won anyway with a 119-113 comeback victory created mostly because they still had Chauncey Billups.

So ends the Wolves' two-game winning "streak," mostly because they once again were too careless with the ball and couldn't nearly contain the Nuggets' pick-and-roll all night.

Billups scored 36 points, 22 of them after halftime.

He went 6-for-6 on three pointers, including 3 in the fourth quarter alone, on a night when George Karl, out of necessity, had to improvise with small lineups that included two point guards -- Ty Lawson at the point, Billups playing off the ball -- on the floor together.

That's when the Nuggets turned the game with a 20-6 run that took them from six points behind at halftime into an eight-point lead.

Afterward, Martell Webster took his share of the blame: He had three of those 19 turnovers and had Billups as his defensive assignment in the fourth quarter.

"Man, that hurts, especially when you had control of the game, pretty much all of the first half," said Webster, whose team lead by nine in the first quarter. "We started getting careless with the ball. I remember all my turnovers. I can't do that. I missed two assignments on three-point shots that Chauncey Billups got.

"I wish I could take those back. It's real painful once you add up all those mistkaes. We got one person with one turnover, another with two, another with three. All those add up and you got 22 turnovers and that's the game right them."

OK, so he exaggerated, but only a bit: The Wolves had 19 turnovers, not 22.

"They still got Chauncey," Webster said. "He's the one that kept them in the game tonight. Hit those two big threes, I think they were back-to-back, too. When I was guarding him, I should have stayed closer to him. It hurts. I'm kicking myself for that. A couple turnovers I had were just careless. I'm not going to hold onto this too long -- I'm living in the moment -- but I'm a little ticked off about it.

"We're way better than that. We let them come in here and rob us of a win. That's the second time that they've robbed us."

He was referring to the Wolves' 115-113 loss at Denver 11 days earlier.

Here's the game story from tonight, when the Wolves got just 14 minutes out of Darko Milicic after he bruised his hip in the first half. That injury comes right after he started to heal from that sprained ankle suffered on the opening tap in Portland a couple weeks ago.

Also, from beyond Wednesday's game...

Yes, the Wolves still have interest in Randolph, who they inquired about when he was with Golden State early last summer, before they acquired Beasley.

Yes, Mayo fits a need at shooting guard and both he and Randolph follow a pattern set by the Wolves' acquisitions of Darko and Beasley:

Former first-round picks who at one time were deemed to have tons of talent, but for whatever reasons haven't successfully found their way in the NBA yet.

There's a couple issues here:

One, the Knicks don't seem ready to give up yet on Randolph, who has been relegated to the bench mostly since he was acquired as part of that sign-and-trade deal for David Lee.

And what will it take to get him?: More than Sebastian Telfair.

One of those first-round picks the Wolves have accumulated? Ridnour?

As for Mayo...two of the three players the Wolves likely are looking to trade -- Flynn, Brewer, Telfair -- are point guards and the Grizzlies just invested big in Mike Conley, so why would the Grizzlies invest more in a former No. 6 overall pick who they're going to have pay a good bit if they believe he's part of their future.

Telfair's value is minimal, and you're not going to get Mayo for Corey Brewer, so you'd probably need a third team to make the pieces fit.

Now the one interesting piece the Wolves do have is...the Grizzlies' own first-round pick, which, I believe, is Top 14 protected in 2011.

The Grizzlies, though, can't afford to pay everybody: They've guaranteed Rudy Gay $84 million, they're paying Zach Randolph big, gave Conley a five-year, $45 million extension and very well could conclude Xavier Henry is, for now, a cheaper version of Mayo.

The Wolves also could take back Hasheem Thabeet's contract in a deal if Memphis wants to wash their hands of him in just the second season after it took him second overall in 2009.

It'd be some coincidence if the Wolves ended up with Mayo and Love, who were traded for each other on draft night 2008, wouldn't it?

How would you feel about a Ricky Rubio-Mayo backcourt for the next decade?

If the Wolves can deal Flynn for some value, it would further clear the way for Rubio to arrive next season, provided there's NBA ball played next season.

Well, that's all I got from Target Center after Wednesday's game.

Wolves practice Thursday and Friday and play a New Year's Day night game against New Jersey.