So here's how the Dallas Morning News story started after the Wolves, minus most of their players that anyone in Dallas might know of, defeated the Mavericks on Monday night:

"On Military Appreciation Night, the Mavericks needed to band together and work as a unit. Instead, they were mostly AWOL. They may have been trying to jump in a foxhole to help each other, but when Minnesota started shoveling dirt on them, it turned into a burial. Eventually, the Timberwolves dishonorably discharged the Mavericks, 90-82, Monday night at American Airlines Center. It was a display that should have gotten the Mavericks locked in the brig — lacking effort, passion and execution."

At ESPNDallas.com, it was described this way: "This team stinks all the sudden. And that's putting it pretty kindly after the Mavs lost their third game in a row. They followed up their crunch-time meltdown against the miserable Bobcats by letting the injury-ravaged Minnesota Timberwolves leftovers dominate Monday night at the American Airlines Center. Timberwolves 90, Mavs 82 was the final score, but it was more lopsided than that. Don't be fooled by Dallas' too-little, too-late rally."

Afterward, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle sounded like a man talking about the Timberwolves of recent years when he told Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News: "A game like tonight, it feels like you're a zillion miles away from being a good team."

Go here for the rest of Sefko's story.

To read the rest of Tim MacMahon's report for ESPNDallas.com, go here.

The words will sound familiar to Wolves fans, but this time they were about the other team.