Brooklyn Nets: 3 things to watch in a matinee with Minnesota

3. Will Atkinson shake the dust off Faried?

Kenneth Faried has not gotten off the bench in the last four games for the Brooklyn Nets since getting his first — and only — minutes outside of garbage time on Nov. 14 against the Miami Heat.

Jarrett Allen was out for the second straight game that night and after trying 6-foot-7 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson as a starting center against Minnesota’s big Karl-Anthony Towns, coach Kenny Atkinson opted for a more conventional approach against Miami’s Hassan Whiteside, starting Ed Davis.

Faried got a couple of minutes in the third period, playing the 5 as he has done all season — when he’s gotten an opportunity, anyway.

Towns dominated Hollis-Jefferson physically in the first meeting against Minnesota — and that’s not a knock on Hollis-Jefferson rather than a statement of the obvious, he was always going to be too small to effectively keep Towns from doing whatever he wanted offensively.

Allen will be back for the rematch Friday, but Davis is questionable with a sprained ankle. That could create an opportunity for Faried to get some meaningful minutes — a very rare commodity for him this season.

Faried did not dress due to an illness on Oct. 26 in New Orleans and in Brooklyn’s other 18 games, he has been a DNP-CD for 12 of them.

He has played 35 minutes in six games, with 21 points, 14 rebounds and a steal on 9-of-12 shooting. But maybe, just maybe, Faried can be in the group when Atkinson counts to 10 players and stops.