Not like this.

The offense didn’t look particularly stagnant over the course of 48 minutes, but the Nets just couldn’t convert on numerous open looks and it cost them down the stretch.

This Timberwolves team is a tough matchup for the Nets — their wing players are quick and athletic, and their biggest man is a behemoth that won’t give an inch against Brook Lopez. But the Nets are just more talented top-to-bottom, and if they want to compete in the Eastern Conference, they can’t lose to bottom-feeding Western teams like this.

Brook Lopez

F

Didn’t really recover after a terrible first quarter. Struggled all night with Nikola Pekovic’s enormous upper body and committed a crucial offensive foul on a screen with 48 seconds left.

Less concerning to me than Lopez’s 3-for-10 stinker in the first quarter is how reticent he was about going to his left hand. When the defense knows you’re not going left, no amount of fakes will get them, and most of Lopez’s misses came because he shot directly into Pekovic, who, again, has the strength of ten thousand mountains on steroids.