Anthony Edwards says Timberwolves ‘knew everything’ Nets would do but still got dominated

The Brooklyn Nets faced the toughest test of their recent hot streak on Saturday. They passed with flying colors, dominating the Minnesota Timberwolves, 123-107, before a sellout crowd at Target Center.

The win marked Brooklyn’s seventh in its last 10 games. While many teams have taken the supposedly tanking Nets lightly during that stretch, Anthony Edwards felt the Timberwolves were prepared but outclassed.

“It was a great scout. We knew everything they were going to do. I guess they were just better than us,” Edwards said.

Following an abysmal 0-7 start, the Nets are 10-12 over their last 22 games. Jordi Fernadez’s squad holds the NBA’s best defense in December, limiting opponents to 103.1 points per game. They were clicking on both ends against Minnesota, which holds the NBA’s ninth-best record.

Nets dominate Timberwolves for seventh win in last 10 games

The Nets held the Timberwolves to 37-of-83 (45 percent) shooting. Offensively, they weathered a cold shooting night (11-of-40 from three) with the help of their bench. Cam Thomas led the charge during his first game back from a near-two-month absence, scoring a game-high 30 points on 9-of-15 shooting in just 20 minutes off the bench.

“We were just connected,” Nic Claxton said. “It was a really good win to come here. Minnesota is one of the best teams in the West. To come up here on their turf and get a win, we were just connected all night. Really, on both sides. We made timely shots, especially towards the end of the game. This is a great win.”

Brooklyn’s bench outscored Minnesota’s 62-33. Michael Porter Jr. led the starters with 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on 9-of-16 shooting.

“Everybody played well, everybody contributed to the win. Starters played well, and the bench was outstanding. You look at the plus minus for what it’s worth, but you also look at the bench points. I know that CT [having] 30 in less than 20 minutes is extremely impressive. But all those guys played very well. They were connected. They support each other on the bench. And the defense in the second half, 44 points allowed. It’s it’s very impressive. So keep being about the right things. It’s not always going to be perfect, but proud of the guys, proud of everybody.”

Brooklyn’s length and defensive activity limited Edwards to 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting. Meanwhile, Julius Randle tallied just 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting.

After posting a league-worst 128.5 defensive rating during their 0-7 start, the Nets rank fourth with a 111.7 rating over their last 22 games.

“You’ve got to give a lot of the credit to the coaches. Just us talking, us figuring things out as a group, coaches and players. And then obviously we’re going out there and executing at a high level,” Claxton said of the turnaround. “A lot of defense is just effort, and we’re putting in the effort. We put the time in practice, and our work is showing. And man, it’s fun guarding like this. It’s fun getting stops. I know me personally, I take a lot of pride in defense. We had some slippage, and I was like, “Let’s go. Let’s let’s let’s get back on track.” So, we just got to keep building and see where we can take it.”

While the Nets appeared destined for one of the NBA’s worst records early this season, their defensive turnaround has vaulted them into the play-in conversation. Following Saturday’s win, Brooklyn sits three games back of the Atlanta Hawks for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

Fernandez’s squad is not lacking confidence following its most impressive win of the season.

“When you’ve got Mike playing at the level that he’s playing out right now, then you throw a Cam Thomas in the fold, and you have us defending the way that we are, we’re gonna be an extremely tough team to beat every night,” Claxton said. “We’re gonna compete, because those are two extremely gifted scores. And we’ve got shooters around [them]. We’ve got me, Day’Ron [Sharpe] at the rim. So we’ve got a lot of different options, a lot to build off of.”

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