Mavs snap skid by beating T-Wolves

The Mavericks doldrums lately have been a concern for Avery Johnson. To admit anything else would be disingenuous.

Sure, it’s early in the season and it’s not time to panic. But it’s also not time to sit back and act as if life is all roses and dunks.

“That may be an arrogant statement to say that I’m less bothered by it,” Johnson said. “If we were in this situation when we first took over with our team being a younger team, we would really have a lot of alarms going off. Now we have some.

“Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t liked our starting lineup the whole year.”

Looking for a spark, Johnson ran out Mavericks starting lineup No. 8 against Minnesota on Wednesday night. So far, it’s undefeated.

The starting five, featuring Jason Terry and Erick Dampier for the first time, jump-started the Mavs to a 109-103 victory before 20,054 fans at American Airlines Center. Dallas (10-5) snapped a season-long three-game losing skid by beating the Timberwolves for the sixth straight time.