As losses go, none this season was worse for the Mavericks than Tuesday's 117-100 defeat to the undermanned Minnesota Timberwolves.

With Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Garnett in Greenville, S.C., attending his grandfather's funeral, everyone expected this to be like taking money out of an open bank vault for the Mavericks. However, Timberwolves point guard Chauncey Billups had a career-high 36 points and the Mavericks failed to cash in on a night when they could have separated themselves from their Midwest Division rivals.

"We were outplayed, outcoached, outmanned, outshot, out everything," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "We've had bad days this year, and haven't had many hard losses.