MILWAUKEE -- The NBA's longest winning streak is over.

After rolling off 18 consecutive victories, the Milwaukee Bucks have tasted defeat for the first time since Nov. 8 following a 120-116 loss to the Luka Doncic-less Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.

Despite 48 points, 14 rebounds and four assists from reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks shot just 41.9% as a team.

The 18 straight wins are second best in franchise history, behind the 20-game win streak last accomplished by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 1970-71 NBA championship Bucks squad.

Entering Monday's game, the Bucks were averaging league highs in points (121.9 per game), rebounds (50.9 per game) and field goal percentage (49.9%) while outscoring their opponents by an average of 15.9 points per game.

However, they didn't get too caught up in the streak.

"It's not like we're tiptoeing around it or anything, but we don't really think about it a lot, either," Bucks center Brook Lopez said during shootaround. "We're just really enjoying the moment and having fun."

The Mavericks were playing without Doncic, who could miss two weeks with a moderate right ankle sprain. Seth Curry and Kristaps Porzingis led the way in his absence to combine for 52 points with 26 apiece.

"Luka is responding well to treatment," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "He is off crutches and out of a boot. He's progressing well. He will not play on Wednesday, and if there is any update it will be Wednesday night. It may not be much of an update at that point, but he's doing well."

Although Doncic wasn't in attendance, the star guard tweeted words of encouragement throughout the game from his official page.

At the end of the third, he tweeted: "1 more to go!!" as the Bucks faced their largest deficit of the 18-game winning streak, down 86-76 entering the fourth, and couldn't recover.

Milwaukee will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday in one of the most anticipated regular-season games of the season featuring the top two teams in the league.