Without the league's Most Valuable Player and the Golden State Warriors' best player, the team was not able to catch up with the Dallas Mavericks, who beat the NBA’s best team 114-91 on Wednesday night (Thursday in Australia).

ESPN reports that the Mavericks made sure the Warriors wouldn’t have a chance, building a 27-21 lead after the first quarter and 60-42 lead by halftime. Golden State never recovered and suffered just their second loss of the season and dropped to 29-2, which is still the best record in the entire NBA.

J.J. Barea, who was starting for the injured Deron Williams, led the Mavs with 24 points and was one of the five players who finished in double-figure scoring for Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Zaza Pachulia posted a double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Wesley Matthews and Devin Harris had 13 points each, and Dwight Powell added 10 points.

Without Curry, the Warriors failed to get any offensive rhythm against the Mavericks, who played good defence on Golden State’s starters, who produced just 41 points for the entire game.

Klay Thompson missed 11 of 15 shots for 10 points, and Draymond Green made 4 of 15 shots for just 11 points.

Dallas improved to 19-13 overall and 10-5 at home this season, good for fifth place in the Western Conference standings. The Mavericks are currently on a four-game winning streak with previous wins against the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.

Dallas will face the Miami Heat on Friday before home games against the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings. Meanwhile, the Warriors will try to bounce back on Thursday when they face the Houston Rockets on the road for their final game of 2015.

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