Kevin Garnett glanced up, hesitated, then shrugged.

"Does this get old?'' the Timberwolves forward asked Sunday, repeating a reporter's question. "Yeah. To be frank ? yeah, it does.''

He was referring specifically to the Wolves' 101-94 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center, marking the sixth consecutive season in which they have lost Game 1 of a best-of-five playoff series.

But he might as well have been talking about his own lackluster offensive performance (6-for-18 shooting, 19 points). Or his team's continued strange reliance on reserve guard Anthony Peeler in the fourth quarter (four turnovers, four rebounds, three fouls, zero points in the quarter). Or Minnesota's sloppiness (19 turnovers). Or its crumble down the stretch.

The Wolves, seeded fifth in the Western Conference playoffs, insisted they can take confidence from the loss. Maybe because they held the most potent offense in the NBA to 44 percent shooting. Maybe because they outrebounded Dallas 58-39. Maybe because they outscored the Mavs 26-2 on second-chance points and had a chance to win until the final few minutes.

Or maybe because they simply need to believe they can advance past the first round of the playoffs after five consecutive failures.