Dallas lost to Houston 112-102 on Thursday in Carlisle's Mavericks debut. Dallas opened the fourth quarter with a one-point lead, but allowed the Rockets to put away the game with a 16-2 run late in the period.

The Mavericks shot just 6-of-24 in the fourth, as top scorers Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard combined for three points on 1-of-6 shooting in the final 12 minutes.

"We will figure it out," Carlisle said. "You got to be careful about overreacting to one game."

Although the fourth quarter was a struggle, Nowitzki finished with 36 points and Howard added 28 and 11 rebounds.

Overall, the defense was not up to par for a team that was sixth in scoring defense (95.9 points per game) and fourth in defensive field goal percentage (44.3 percent) last season. Dallas allowed Houston to make 7-of-14 shots from 3-point range and score 38 points in the paint.

"We put up enough points but we didn't stop anybody," said Jason Kidd, who had seven points, seven rebounds and 12 assists. "This was a lesson learned."

While the defense failed to stop the Rockets, Carlisle's up-tempo offense flourished. The Mavericks scored 37 fast-break points Thursday after scoring more than 33 in transition just once last season.

"It was fun," Howard said. "Guys got out and ran. We just got to get the ball to J-Kidd and he will take care of the rest."

Dallas now looks to get its first win of the season while continuing its dominance over Minnesota.

The Mavericks have won eight straight over the Timberwolves by an average of 12.4 points since a 91-78 loss on Jan. 4, 2006. Dallas has also won six of its last seven games at the Target Center.

Nowitzki averaged 28.7 points on 60.4 percent shooting in the Mavericks' three wins over the Timberwolves last season, while Howard averaged 16.0 points and 6.0 boards in those contests.

Minnesota opened the 2008-09 season with a 98-96 win over Sacramento on Wednesday - an encouraging start for a team that opened last season 5-34.

Rookie Kevin Love had an impressive debut with 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes.

"People are going to have to realize that for a rookie, there's always ups and downs. Nobody's ever perfect," said Love, the fifth overall pick from UCLA who was acquired with Mike Miller in a draft-night trade that sent O.J. Mayo to Memphis. "There's going to be some growing pains and there's going to be times when I'm down. But in the times that I'm up, I'm hoping people are by my side and the times that I'm down, I hope people still got my back."

Al Jefferson had 21 points and 10 boards in Wednesday's opener, and averaged 23.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in the three games against the Mavericks last season.