DALLAS -- After such a promising start to the season, the Dallas Mavericks have now lost three games in a row.
The latest loss came Monday night at American Airlines Center when the heavily injury-riddled Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Mavs, 90-82. Dallas is now 4-4 on the year after started the season with a 4-1 record.
The Mavs conclude this short two-game home stand Wednesday against the Washington Wizards before they hit the road to play the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
Dallas played Monday without injured players Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion. But the Timberwolves played without injured players Kevin Love, JJ Barea, Ricky Rubio, Brandon Roy and Chase Budinger.
Also, the Timberwolves lost center Nikola Pekovic to a sprained left ankle late in the third quarter, and he did not return to the game. Pekovic finished with 20 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes.
The Mavs' frustrations boiled over when coach Rick Carlisle got ejected with five minutes left after he drew a pair of quick technical fouls from referee Jason Phillips. It was that kind of frenetic night for the Mavs, who just never could get untracked against the T-Wolves.
Darren Collison led the Mavs with 21 points, OJ Mayo had 18 and Chris Kaman finished with 12 points.
Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved scored 16 points apiece for Minnesota, Luke Ridnour had 15 and Dante Cunningham added 14 points.
-- Dwain Price
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