Fresh off a loss that snapped their 11-game winning streak, the Cavaliers will travel to Minneapolis on Wednesday looking to extend the woeful Timberwolves' skid to 11 straight losses.

Cleveland (20-4) lost two of its first three games this season, but had won 19 of its past 20 heading into its game with Atlanta on Saturday. The Cavaliers had already made league history during the streak, becoming the first team to win nine consecutive games by at least 12 points.

But with a chance to make it a club-record 12 in a row, Cleveland finally faltered. Missing injured center Zydrunas Ilgauskas and reserve guard Daniel Gibson, the Cavaliers trailed the Hawks almost the entire game and lost 97-92.

"You can't win 'em all," said LeBron James, who had 33 points. "We didn't expect to win every last game and go 79-3. We played hard. It was just a matter that they got more stops at the end than we did."

James had his highest-scoring game in nearly a month, and Mo Williams chipped in 26 points, but Cleveland clearly felt the absence of Ilgauskas and Gibson.

Gibson, who is expected to miss at least another week with a sprained left toe, had rebounded from a rocky start to provide a major scoring threat off the bench in December. In four games before the injury, he averaged 13.8 points on 60.7 percent shooting - including 57.1 percent from 3-point range.

The Cavaliers shot just 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from beyond the arc against Atlanta, and without Ilgauskas' team-high 7.6 rebounds per game, they were outrebounded.

Cleveland also lost the rebounding battle in its win over Philadelphia on Friday. Prior to that, it hadn't been outrebounded since Nov. 11.

Ilgauskas is listed as day-to-day with a sprained ankle, but he isn't expected to play Wednesday.

The Timberwolves, meanwhile, need any break they can get. With another loss, Minnesota (4-20) will have its longest losing streak since dropping 12 in a row from April 2-23, 1993.

The past 10 losses have come by an average of 13.5 points, and their most recent effort was even worse, particularly considering the competition. The Timberwolves held a six-point lead after the first quarter Monday in Sacramento, but were outscored by 25 points over the next 24 minutes in a 118-103 loss to the struggling Kings.

"Starting the second quarter, it seemed like we couldn't muster any energy," said coach Kevin McHale, who fell to 0-5 since replacing Randy Wittman last week. "We started missing shots, and our energy got zapped. ... We looked like we started hanging our heads, and you can't have that."

With Ilgauskas out, Minnesota will likely look to Al Jefferson to keep them in the game. Jefferson's certainly done his part lately, averaging 24.3 points and 11.3 rebounds over his last four games.

Jefferson averaged 26.0 points and 9.0 rebounds against the Cavaliers last season, but the Timberwolves couldn't handle James.

Cleveland's superstar has scored at least 30 points in six straight games against Minnesota, and he's led the Cavaliers to five consecutive victories in the series. He had 45 in his last trip to Minneapolis, a 97-86 Cavs victory on Nov. 21, 2007.