"My touch is always going to be there," the veteran guard said on the day after his first appearance in two weeks. But fighting through all the bodies in the lane? "That's one of those things you've got to do -- it's mostly mental," he said. "Both times I've (injured his ankle), it's been in traffic, so I want to make sure when I go in there, I play the way I normally play. Otherwise, you probably will get hurt again. You can't change the way you play."

But you can enlist a little more protection. Miller had kept his ankles tightly wrapped with tape, like most NBA players, "but I still turned it a couple of times," he said, including the reinjury on Dec. 20 that cost him the past five games. So for the foreseeable future, Miller is going to wear a stiff brace on his ankle in hopes of staying on the floor.

The ankle, which caused Miller to miss nine games overall in December, is still sore, the nine-year veteran said, but "good enough to play on. ... I want to try and make an impact enough that we can win some games."

Coach Kevin McHale said he plans to limit Miller's minutes to around 20 - he played 23 on Friday, his first game back - while he builds up his conditioning. The second injury, just as Miller was feeling better on the floor, was a big setback because now it's as if he's been out for a month.

"We're going to monitor (his conditioning) a little bit. ... It's a bit of a process," McHale said. "In a week or so, after a couple of days of practice, hopefully he'll get rolling again."

Pining for Rose: The Wolves didn't win the lottery last summer, so they never had a shot at drafting guard Derrick Rose. McHale sounded a little wistful about that as he described the Bulls rookie before Saturday's first look at him as a pro.

"He's like a miniature LeBron James," McHale said of the No. 1 overall pick.

He also plays a position -- point guard -- that would have made him a natural to play alongside Randy Foye in the Wolves' backcourt.

"He's just lightning quick. Almost impossible to keep in front of you," McHale said. "They give him some space out there, and he puts his head down and gets to the rack."

That's a valuable talent these days, given the NBA's crackdown on perimeter fouls, McHale noted.

"The way they call our game right now, if he puts his head down, it's either foul or get out of the way," the coach said.

Ollie injured: Starting guard Kevin Ollie left Saturday's game after just 3:36, clutching his left elbow. After an examination in the locker room, the team announced Ollie would not return, though the extent of the injury is not known.