ESPN NBA

MINNEAPOLIS -- When Kevin Garnett took the podium with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce on that warm July day in Boston, a smile so wide it could be seen in Minnesota, the Timberwolves knew they were in for a rough season.

Rebuilding is never easy, especially with nine players age 25 or younger on the roster and a gaping hole in the leadership area left by the departure of No. 21.

Six months later, it's safe to say they didn't expect things to be this difficult.

While Garnett has taken the Celtics to heights not seen since the days of Larry Legend, the Timberwolves have lost eight games in a row to fall to 4-29, the worst start in a franchise history that knew only losing before KG arrived in 1995.

"The losses have piled up. You knew it was going to be an up-and-down year, you knew there was going to be a fluctuation," basketball boss Kevin McHale said. "The problem is, when you hit the bottom of that thing, you lose your competitive spirit. You lose your thinking that you can win. You lose all those things mentally that make you competitive."

Through the first three months of the season, the Wolves certainly weren't winning. But they took solace in the fact that they were playing hard and keeping things close. They have been tied or ahead in the fourth quarter 12 times this season and only won four of those games, typical of a young team trying to learn how to win.

Then came Sunday. The Wolves were dominated from start to finish by the Dallas Mavericks at home. Even worse, they were out-hustled, out-worked and out-everythinged in a 101-78 loss that had coach Randy Wittman questioning the team's effort and heart.

"Our success should not be measured by you guys, by our wives, girlfriends, friends," Wittman told reporters after a rigorous practice on Monday. "Our success right now, where we're at today, should be dependent upon how hard we come out and play. That's how our success should be measured. And it hasn't been measuring very good."

Minnesota hasn't held a single lead in nearly three full games. The Wolves are in the middle of their longest losing streak in a single season since they closed with 10 straight defeats in 1994-95, just before The Big Ticket came to town.

Now Wittman and McHale are trying to hold together a team that could be on the brink of implosion.

"The lack of just competitiveness, that's completely unacceptable," McHale said. "That just can't happen. I understand why it happens. It's human nature. You go through periods when you get down and stuff like that but those guys have to fight their way out of that.

"That's nothing but individuals taking pride in what they're doing and just going out there and fighting. Sometimes you just have to fight through tough times. And right now, we're going through some tough times."

The one bright spot has been Al Jefferson. He was the center piece of the unprecedented 7-for-1 deal that brought Garnett to Boston, and he hasn't disappointed here.

Despite turning 23 just a couple of days ago, Jefferson is one of only two players in the NBA averaging at least 20 points and 12 rebounds a game.

The individual success -- and a $65 million contract extension signed earlier this year -- has done little to brighten Jefferson's spirits.

"We can't give up," he said after the loss to the Mavericks. "It can't get no worse. We can't give up. We've got to keep fighting."

Jefferson simply needs more help. Rashad McCants, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Marko Jaric, Sebastian Telfair and Craig Smith have all either been wildly erratic or just plain bad for much of the season.

"Right now, it's very, very hard to say who we can count on on a nightly basis out on the floor out there," McHale said. "And that's part of the sputtering, and that's part of the problem we have."

Setting a target for wins went out the door a long time ago. Now McHale and Wittman are focused on evaluating individual players to see who they want to keep in the fold long term and who needs to go.

"We're trying to figure out where we're at with our young guys," McHale said. "And right now I'd say that jury's out on a lot of guys. You see some development, you see some things you like, then you see some steps backwards."

Through it all, McHale and Wittman have been clinging to what they maintain is a strong backbone of the team. They both say that these youngsters continue to work hard in practice and ask for areas in which they can improve.

McHale called this group perhaps the most competitive and unified team he's had since taking over more than 12 years ago.

"You put what is happening to us in some of the other groups, it would have been an implosion of epic proportions," he said. "These guys are still trying. They're still working and going through it. So the character is good."

^------=

Jon Krawczynski can be reached at jkrawczynski(at)ap.org.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index