Timberwolves humbled at home by young Nets for second consecutive loss

The Brooklyn Nets arrived in Minnesota with the NBA’s youngest roster, the lowest scoring average in the league and only nine wins.

The Timberwolves handled the assignment as if taking a leisurely stroll on a beach. One team played with force, the other didn’t.

“They kicked our butt in every category,” coach Chris Finch said.

A season-long habit of playing down to a lesser opponent continued Saturday night, Dec. 27, as the Wolves sleepwalked through a 123-107 loss that ended with boos raining down from unhappy customers at Target Center.

“I’m with the fans, I would have booed us too,” Anthony Edwards said. “Lack of energy, I don’t know what’s going on. I guess it’s just Timberwolves basketball.”

That’s a troubling and damning admission that found no opposing viewpoints inside the locker room after the game. Finch and players alike sounded exasperated by the team’s hot-and-cold nature.

Their effort often reflects the caliber of opponent, an annoying trait that should be beneath a veteran team coming off consecutive appearances in the Western Conference finals.

Time is ticking.

“We want to be champions,” center Rudy Gobert said. “[With] champions, it doesn’t matter who you play, it’s who you are. You play every night to set a tone and define who you are as a team. I think that’s what OKC is really good at.”

The Purposeful Wolves beat that Thunder team and the NBA Cup champion New York Knicks as well. The Casual Wolves turn the switch on and off too regularly. Those instances don’t always end in a loss, but the overall performance isn’t flattering.

“We have to do some soul-searching,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “We can’t just look at the season like it’s a failure. But we have to address it. We can’t rely on talent. We have to come in and use our talent, but every night the energy has to be there. Every night the competitive spirit has to be there, and it can’t be up and down on a night-to-night basis.”

It was way down against a Nets team that is 7-3 in December and owns the league’s No. 1 defense in the month. The visitors were superior by just about every measure.

They were averaging 41 points in the paint, lowest in the NBA. They finished with 66.

Bench scoring: Nets 62, Wolves 33.

Rebounding: Nets 39, Wolves 34.

“We deserved the outcome,” Finch said.

Even a one-point halftime lead by the Wolves “honestly didn’t feel like we were winning,” DiVincenzo said, because of the lack of energy.

The Wolves gave up 36 points in the third quarter and trailed by 18 early in the fourth.

BOXSCORE: Brooklyn 123, Wolves 107

NBA standings

Finch and players waved off questions about whether the lull stemmed from an emotional hangover following an overtime loss in Denver on Christmas night. Before that, the Wolves had won 10 of 12 games.

“We can’t have these peaks and valleys,” DiVincenzo said. “We’re supposed to come in and handle business.”