We had left them on Sunday evening, to the boos of their public after a catastrophic defeat against the C team of the Blazers. Two days later, the wolves showed another face in Brooklyn, where they imposed themselves with forceps against the netwithout being particularly brilliant but by mastering the “money-time”.
Under the impetus in particular of a solid duo Karl Anthony Towns (22 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists) – Anthony Edwards (23 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists), which ensured decisive baskets in hot moments, but also of a super Jalen McDaniels always valuable for his versatility and his defense wide (15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals), especially against Mikal Bridges (24 points, but on 24 shots).
With this victory, the Wolves find balance in the balance sheet, and above all can still hope mathematically to hang on to sixth place. It will be complicated, because there are only two games left and they depend on the results of their competitors (Warriors, Lakers and Pelicans to name them), but hope, however meager, is still possible. But above all, Wolves had to come to terms with their basketball, after a frankly embarrassing match on Sunday. It’s done, before the last decisive days of the regular season…
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Brooklyn missed the mark. Because if for the Nets, the urgency of the result was less than for their opponents, the defeat is all the same regrettable since the players of Jacque Vaughn, by winning, could pose a foot and a half in the playoffs. Instead, the Brooklyn squad still need to win two games to officially validate their ticket to the Eastern Conference Top 6, while at the same time Miami won and is then down to just one victory, with three games still to go. playing for both clubs… The suspense remains in the race for sixth place.
– A rare evening without Mikal Bridges. Very strong since his arrival in Brooklyn, and even voted “Player Of The Week” for the first time in his career on Monday, the Nets winger had his first round of air: a 24-point match, of course, but 9/24 on shots. Not to mention that he committed more ball losses than he gave assists (3 and 2). On arrival, a fairly logical -9 at the +/- at the end of the match.
TOPS & FLOPS
✅ “KAT” and “Ant”. Relatively quiet for the first three quarters, Wolves’ two attacking bosses took matters into their own hands in the final act to give their team the ultimate boost. The first scored 11 of his 22 points during this fourth quarter, the second 7 of 23 points. In an evening potentially of all dangers for Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards thus held the house.
✅ Spencer Dinwiddie. He was blocked on his attempt to equalize in the last seconds, but an Anthony Edwards foul was clearly overlooked by the referees anyway so he is excused. Because otherwise, the leader of Brooklyn made a clean copy with his 30 points and 6 assists without the slightest loss of ball.
⛔️ Coaching by Jacque Vaughn. The only element of the bench mobilized with regularity this season, Royce O’Neal was not particularly inspired, compiling only 8 points in 10 shots despite 35 minutes spent on the ground. Ditto for Joe Harris, author of only 15 points in 15 minutes. The other replacements? Less than 3 minutes for Dayton Sharpe and Seth Curry, and 5 minutes for Cam Thomas. In a sluggish evening in attack for his team, the Nets coach did not attempt shots with his scorers / shooters off the bench.
THE FOLLOWING
– Nets (43-36): “back-to-back” in Detroit (01:00).
– Wolves (40-40): trip to San Antonio, Saturday evening (10:00 p.m.).
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D= defensive rebound; T = Total Bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Points = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
