Brooklyn Nets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves Live Game Notes

Feb 3, 2012; Newark, NJ, USA; New Jersey Nets power forward Kris Humphries (43) is fouled by Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Luke Ridnour (13) as he drives to the basket at the Prudential Center. Minnesota Timberwolves defeat the New Jersey Nets 108-105. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Tonight, the Brooklyn Nets host the Minnesota Timberwolves. I will be posting live notes here throughout the game.

First Quarter:

Brook Lopez is playing very well on offense again. He has done a good job of drawing fouls and making his jump shots. His rip-through move is very effective. He also had a huge dunk.
Deron Williams had a good quarter with 7 points and 3 assists. He did pick up two fouls, though.
Like last season, Nikola Pekovic is again burning the Nets. If not for Brook Lopez drawing Pekovic into two fouls, he would be doing even more damage. He already has 10 points and 3 rebounds.
The Nets need to do a better job of boxing out on defense. Minnesota has gotten too many offensive rebounds. The defense also needs to improve.

Second Quarter

Tyshawn Taylor has checked into the game. It is his NBA debut. He probably won’t get more than 10 minutes tonight. He had a nice steal in his first minute.
3 minutes into the second quarter, Minnesota has only scored 1 point. The Nets’ second unit has done much better defensively than their starters. We noticed this in the Nets game on Saturday too. The Nets still need to work on their defensive rebounding. Every defensive rebound is a fight.
Tyshawn had his first career NBA basket.
Marshon has been aggressive so far, looking for his shot. The Nets are shooting very well, 15-26 from the field so far. We never saw this last year.
Pekovic has returned from the bench and continues to kill the Nets. He already has 15 points. Nobody on the team can guard him. Nobody else on Minnesota has more than 6.
The Nets had a great ending to the second quarter. They put the starters back in for the last 4 minutes. The Nets built up their lead to 15 at the end of the first half with a 62-47 lead. This is the second straight game that they scored 60+ points in the first half. They did not do that once last year. To cap the half, Mirza Teletovic checked into the game with 7 seconds left and hit a 3 on his first ever shot.

Halftime stats

The Nets are shooting 22-37, nearly 60%!
The Nets only have one scorer in double figures, Joe Johnson with 12. It has been a very balanced effort. Marshon, Deron, and Brook all have 9. Keith Bogans has 6.
For Minnesota, it has been the Nikola Pekovic show. He has 17 points. Nobody else has more than 6.
This was the second straight game where the Nets have picked up their defense in the second quarter. They only allowed the Wolves to score 20 points in the second quarter after allowing 27 in the first quarter.

Third Quarter

The Nets jumped out to a 22-point lead at the beginning of the third, led by a pair of 3’s from Deron Williams. He now has 15 points and 9 assists.
Nikola Pekovic picked up his 4th foul early in the 3rd quarter. That is very bad news for Minnesota. The Nets should win this game by 20 points.
It is raining 3’s in Brooklyn! The Nets are 13-19 so far from deep.
Deron Williams has owned the third quarter so far. He is shooting well, passing well, doing everything well.
The Timberwolves are officially in “hanging around” mode. They will be down between 10 and 20 points for the rest of this game.
The Nets got a little bit lazy at the end of the 3rd quarter and now only lead by 11. The defense in that quarter was not very good.

Fourth Quarter

Uh oh. The Nets’ lead is cut to 6 points. The Nets have not been able to get defensive rebounds and are playing pretty lazy right now. Timeout Coach Avery with 10 minutes remaining.
The game is tied at 92. I never thought this would happen but the Nets’ offense has really slowed down and the defense has gotten lazy leaving shooters open. I still have a feeling the Nets will come back and find a way to win this game, but Brooklyn still has a lot to work on before they can become a really good team.
The game is now tied at 96 with under 3 minutes remaining. This will be the end of my notes. I will talk about the ending to this game in the game recap.