Minnesota Timberwolves intend to tighten NBA effort against Brooklyn Nets

MINNESOTA – Coming off his sixth 40-point outing of the National Basketball Association season, Anthony Edwards hopes to help the Minnesota Timberwolves earn their fourth straight home win on Dec 27 night (Dec 28 morning, Singapore time) when they face the improving Brooklyn Nets.

Edwards dazzled with a 44-point showing in a Christmas Day showcase against the Denver Nuggets, but it was not good enough because of Nikola Jokic’s 56-point triple-double.

He tied his season high in points as the Timberwolves absorbed a 142-138 overtime loss. The guard will be Minnesota’s key man against the Nets, but his coach has also urged his men to play as a team to bounce back from their defeat.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Chris Finch said. “I didn’t think we played very good basketball in the third quarter (against Denver).

“I thought we were way better from the middle of the third quarter on. We’re always going to respond.”

The Wolves are 2-4 when Edwards scores at least 40 points after going 7-2 in those games last season. The 142 points conceded tied a season high, as did the 19 three-pointers by the Nuggets.

Julius Randle supported Edwards with 32 points, but the Wolves (20-11) also were called for 27 fouls, two shy of their season worst. Jokic went 22 of 23 from the line.

“We just got to get a little tighter, cleaner down the stretch, tighter with our coverages,” Randle said as he looked ahead to the next game.

Edwards sat out with a hamstring injury when the Wolves shot 56.4 per cent in their 125-109 win at Brooklyn on Nov 3.

Brooklyn’s loss in the first meeting was part of their 0-7 start to the season, with signs of gradual progress ever since.

After losing 11 of their first 12 games, the Nets (9-19) are a respectable 8-8 since Nov 16 and have been even better in December. They are 6-3 this month while allowing 106 points or less seven times, resulting in a defence allowing 102.7 points over the stretch.

The latest standout defensive showing occurred in Dec 23’s 114-106 win over the 76ers in Philadelphia.

The Nets held the 76ers to 40.7 per cent shooting from the floor after holding the Toronto Raptors to 37.2 per cent on Dec 21.

It was the seventh time this season Brooklyn held opponents under 45 per cent and six of those instances are in December. They kept Philadelphia star Tyrese Maxey to 3-of-14 shooting.

“So happy for the guys, I think they did a great job,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Not just against him, but the whole game defensively was a good game.”

Brooklyn have played without Cam Thomas since a hamstring injury in the first quarter of a 112-103 win at Indiana on Nov 5. Thomas, who averaged 21.4 points in eight games before getting hurt, returned to practice on Dec 26 and will play on Dec 27.

Meanwhile, on Dec 26, Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 30 points and Payton Pritchard added 29 as the Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to four games by beating the Indiana Pacers 140-122 in Indianapolis.

Brown scored at least 30 points for the eighth straight game. Larry Bird holds the franchise record for consecutive games with at least 30 points (nine in 1984-85).

Elsewhere, Jaren Jackson Jr scored 24 points and blocked five shots, Cam Spencer added 19 points and Ja Morant made a triumphant return with 17 points and 10 assists for the Memphis Grizzlies in a 125-104 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.

In other news, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves will miss at least four weeks with a Grade 2 left calf strain, the team announced on Dec 25.

Reaves, who has a career-high average of 26.6 points per game, did not play during the second half of Los Angeles’ 119-96 home loss to the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day. The fifth-year guard underwent an MRI scan that revealed a Grade 2 left calf muscle strain. REUTERS, AFP