Karl was disappointed when his team looked lethargic in three games last week against lowly New Jersey, Minnesota and New York. But he really was upset about how the Nuggets (12-5) looked in the loss to the lowly Timberwolves (2-15), who had dropped 15 straight.

Denver led 64-50 at halftime but soon fell apart and was outscored 31-12 in the third quarter.

"We mess around with the game," Karl said. "My Christmas wish, and I pray to the basketball gods every night, is we play hard and pass the ball."

Unfortunately for Karl, the word is getting around that the Nuggets let teams back into games.

"They're known as a team that will relax sometimes," said Minnesota forward Damien Wilkins. "They did just that. They relaxed just enough and we played hard enough."

Karl only wishes his team would play hard. He will try to correct the problem by Tuesday's game against Golden State.

TIMBERWOLVES 106, NUGGETS 100: It might end up being the biggest upset of the NBA regular season.

The Nuggets (12-5) had won 17 straight games at the Pepsi Center, and Minnesota (2-15) came in with a 15-game losing streak. But the Timberwolves, after falling behind 64-50 at halftime, outscored Denver 31-12 in the third quarter on their way to a stunning win.

"We came into the locker room and celebrated like we won the championship," said Minnesota guard Jonny Flynn. "Everybody was hugging each other."

The Timberwolves got a team-high 27 points from forward Ryan Gomes. Denver forward Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 32 points.

Anthony scored 19 points in the first quarter. He was held mostly in check after that.

"We didn't respect them enough to come out and try to put them away," Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said of his team falling apart in the second half.