Look, everybody knows that Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays on the calendar. This, unfortunately, is not up for debate.

In most households, Thanksgiving exists as a reason to wake up early, watch giant balloons, cute dogs, and an all-day binge of the CTE machine, all while pigging out on a smorgasbord of meats, cheeses, and, of course, pie. But beyond all this, Thanksgiving is excellent for creating week-long leftovers — the key to happiness for any adult, I’m sure of it.

On the other hand, it’s important to regroup and refocus on Black Friday. Whether that means going back to work, waking up at 8:30 AM on the West Coast to prepare these grades, or hitting the gym for a crucial mid-season test, it’s important not to get sloppy in the hours following the holiday feast.

For the Brooklyn Nets, that test came in the form of the Minnesota Timberwolves, a franchise that’s added Dario Saric and Robert Covington since the last time these teams met. Of course, that was also the night-that-will-not-named — and the Nets have yet to truly recover and play with consistency once again. There are certainly plenty of reasons to be thankful in Brooklyn: Rodions Kurucs, Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert (and his lack of a career-altering injury), among others — but just as many questions remain as well. 

Early on, it seemed like many of those would be answered, just in a negative way. But that tryptophan-heavy hangover was very real in the Barclays Center as Taj Gibson went to town on Jared Dudley and the Nets remained in the single-digit tally until the six-minute mark. This time around, at the very least, they’d have an actual center to guard Karl-Anthony Towns and that, my friends, is a little victory.

The re-arrival of Allen Crabbe was immediate, keying a 10-0 run to scoot the Nets ahead for their first fleeting lead of the game. Alongside the solid second unit efforts of Spencer Dinwiddie, Shabazz Napier, DeMarre Carroll, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the Nets actually headed into the quarter break with a four-point edge.

While Sarah Kustok was being gifted personalized Prince-adorned threads, the Nets were hanging tough against Minnesota, mostly thanks to their 8-for-20 start from behind the arc. At halftime, the only Net to play and not score was Ed Davis, with nine others pitching in along the way.

With almost everybody struggling to catch fire, it was up to Joe Harris to help the Nets keep pace. But despite his best efforts, Brooklyn fell behind by double-digits as Towns feasted on a foul-riddled frontcourt. Even Kenneth Faried got his chance to shine in another infamously poor third quarter — but it would hardly change the Nets’ fate.

Towns scored 17 points in the frame, the Nets went ice cold and, well, you know how this story goes. Blah, blah, blah, third quarter, turnovers, defense — it’s like living in some version of Groundhog Day, except just for those cursed 12 minutes in the middle of basketball games, over and over again. (Excuse me, I have to look up the ending to that 1993 classic for some curse-breaking ideas…)

Dinwiddie did his usual fourth quarter exorcism of the Nets’ floundering offense, just barely hanging in there as Gibson and Towns both reached trouble on the foul front themselves. Derrick Rose, for all his off-the-court issues, has been a welcomed revelation all season for Minnesota and he kept the Nets at bay until the final buzzer. But Dinwiddie — your league leader in assists off the bench, mind you — did it all once again in the losing effort. 

Allen would foul out with three minutes to go, ending an extremely frustrating night for him — but against Towns, who can blame him? Even with Hollis-Jefferson plastered all over Towns again, the Nets just would not lay down and die, getting their deficit down to just six points. At long last, they would die, as time ran out on their comeback attempt. It was a valiant effort in the fourth, only destroyed by another slow-moving start and another horrendous third quarter. Much akin to Thanksgiving dinner, it felt like the Nets were in a dangerous, lazy food coma, only frantically trying to break out when it was already too late. 

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving leftovers, today’s grades are accompanied by a(n)(un)delicious food item. As always, the grades are subjective, but my food-related opinions are not — these are the straight-up facts. From everybody at The Brooklyn Game, we hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Gobble gobble.