Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis met with his players last week after they had been mostly thumped in successive road losses at Milwaukee, New York and Cleveland and declared the 9-38 season start long behind them and a complete fresh start ahead of them.

After Friday's 117-108 victory at Dallas -- producing the team's first three-game winning streak of the season -- this question remains:

Why didn't he do that in December?