Wolves record: 14-48
The Mavericks got by, partially because they were playing the team with the worst record in the Western Conference, and because they came alive in the final minutes for a 112-109 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at American Airlines Center.

Kidd was given a night off because he’s simply been playing too long lately.

Minnesota nearly became the poster child for parity, putting a scare into a surging Dallas squad that trails only the Lakers in the Western Conference standings. The Timberwolves have lost four straight and 10 of their last 11. They’ve won only five times on the road all season and have dropped 14 of their last 15 meetings against the Mavericks. They were also playing without suspended center Al Jefferson, their leading scorer and rebounder.

Yet there they were, trailing by just one with 95 seconds left after a putback layup by Ronnie Brewer cut the Mavericks’ once double-digit lead down to 107-106.
As expected, Kurt Rambis started Darko Milicic and Ryan Hollings side by side tonight with Al Jefferson serving the first game of his two-game team suspension.
• Brewer extended his franchise-record streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer made to 26, when he made one with about three minutes left in the first half.

• Jefferson can’t be in the arena for the two games he missed, but he planned to watch them on television. “Most definitely, I’ll watch the games,” he said. “I’m kicking myself because I want to be out there. But when you do something, you have to pay for it.”

• Ellington and Nathan Jawai also stayed home after each sprained an ankle within 10 minutes of each other in Monday’s practice. Don’t expect either to be ready to play until Monday at the earliest. “It was so bad, I was like in shock,” Ellington said. “I couldn’t move it at first. I’ve sprained my ankle before, but not very bad. This is definitely the worst.”