By CAMERON ZARGAR

First round failures are becoming a tradition in Minnesota, as are Kevin Garnett's stellar performances in the playoffs.

Don’t try to make any sort of correlation. Garnett is not to be held responsible for his team's annual disappointment, despite the $126 million he's making.

Rather, these are telling signs that the T-Wolves invested wisely. The talent-deprived team revolves around their 25 year-old star and when the games matter most, they look to him helplessly. Garnett’s best, though, is not nearly enough to carry his teammates to a championship.

If anything, Garnett's high-caliber play (24.0 points, 18.7 rebs in the series vs. Dallas) makes clear that the T-Wolves should be happy just to make the playoffs. History proves that any team that depends so much on one player will never go very far in the NBA postseason.

During the regular season, Minnesota fed off Garnett’s enthusiasm and ferocity just enough to cover their glaring holes.

Other than Garnett, the T-Wolves have no real big man and very little athleticism. That means Flip Saunders must exert his mind each night to conjure up enough defensive schemes to keep opponents at bay.

That works fine in the regular season when opponents only face each other two or four times a year and are not worried about out-strategizing the opposition. Rather, staying healthy, rested and in team harmony are the focal points.

In the postseason, though, Dallas brushed aside the T-Wolves and their games and attacked them with pure talent, dominating Minnesota in virtually every facet of the game.

Minnesota doesn’t even come close in terms of talent.

The playoffs made it clear that the T-Wolves have no consistent players other than Garnett and Sczerbiak, and Sczerbiak was not even a factor before this year.

Sczerbiak broke through this year to relieve Garnett’s burden of carrying a franchise, but the former Miami of Ohio star is not the multi-faceted presence that Garnett is.

While he has one of the sweetest strokes in the game, Sczerbiak’s defense is clearly below average. The Mavs sizzled from behind the three-point line and that is due in part to Sczerbiak's lack of lateral quickness. His offense is a plus, but not when they fail to equal the points put up by the Mavericks' shooters. Steve Nash, Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki all surpassed Sczerbiak's numbers.

Meanwhile, Garnett is not just a good defender. He's two or three good defenders. His long arms and amazing quickness for a seven-footer allow the T-Wolves to make a lot of defensive mistakes.

In the playoffs, though, those mistakes are magnified. The elite teams have been waiting the entire season for the playoffs, so that is when they step up their play and either expose the competition's shortcomings or are exposed themselves.

The playoffs are not for pretenders, and, the T-Wolves were an early-season surprise. Thanks to the rule changes, permitting zone defense, the smallish-Minnesota squad began beating the Western Conference powerhouses they never stood a chance against before.

As a result, Minnesota fans expected bigger and better things. What they got was the reality that is T-Wolves basketball— a small market team lacking in young talent, stocked with NBA castoffs and waiting on an injury-prone point guard (Terrell Brandon). That’s usually not reason for a lot of hope.

Nevertheless, the ever-relentless Garnett annually claws his way through each playoff game, screaming and giving it his all. By now he must have doubts about his team as he can sense collapse soon into a series.

Garnett is Minnesota's identity and will continue to be so for a decade or longer. With not much help on the way, though, Minnesota fans must be patient and hope that their team stumbles upon a gem because the one they have now can only carry them so far.