The Minnesota Timberwolves struggled in their first two games without Anthony Edwards and excelled on both ends in the third contest.
As they continue to wait for Edwards to fully heal from his hamstring injury, the Timberwolves attempt to put it together again on both ends Monday night when they visit the winless Brooklyn Nets.
Edwards has not played since getting hurt early in a 114-110 win over the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 26. In the first two games without the star guard, Minnesota took a 127-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets last Monday and a 116-115 setback to the Los Angeles Lakers two nights later.
While the Timberwolves shot 47.1% against the Nuggets and 50% against the Lakers, they allowed both teams to shoot over 52%. On Saturday, things were different as Minnesota shot 54% in a 122-105 win at Charlotte, which shot 39.5%.
Julius Randle scored 30 points for his third 30-point performance and is 56.4% on the season, including 30-of-54 in the three games Edwards has missed. Rudy Gobert added 14 and 15 rebounds for his second double-double after snagging 11 rebounds in the previous two games combined.
Randle and Gobert combined for 15 points and 13 rebounds during a third quarter in which the Wolves outscored the Hornets 36-18 to turn a six-point deficit into a 12-point lead.
“I think getting stops (was key),” Gobert said. “In order to get rebounds, you first get a stop. I thought we did a much better job as a team in the third quarter.”
Brooklyn is off to its first 0-6 start since dropping the first seven games of the 2015-16 season. Its average margin of defeat is 15.7 points.
The Nets took their fourth double-digit loss on Sunday when they absorbed a 129-105 loss to the visiting Philadelphia 76ers that marked the fifth time they allowed an opponent to shoot at least 50%, leaving coach Jordi Fernandez frustrated with the defensive effort.
“The effort is not there,” Fernandez said. “The defense is not there, and we’re turning it over. Until we don’t have that, we’re not going to be able to fight for a win. It’s plain and simple.”
Brooklyn’s offense was unable to compensate for the subpar defense as the Nets failed to convert half their shots for the fifth time and missed 31 of 38 3-point tries after shooting 35.4% from behind the arc in the first five contests.
Cam Thomas led the Nets with 29 points and is 18-for-48 from the floor in his past three contests since a 41-point showing at San Antonio on Oct. 26. Nic Claxton added 19, and while Michael Porter Jr. finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds, he was 1-of-12 from 3-point range and 7-of-23 overall.
The Nets also took their latest loss while making a change in their starting lineup in an attempt to address point guard woes. Tyrese Martin moved into the starting lineup, but went scoreless over 27 minutes after playing the entire fourth quarter of Wednesday’s five-point loss to Atlanta.
Martin was elevated into the lineup for rookie Ben Saraf, who started the first five games. Saraf did not play and fellow first-round pick Egor Demin finished with five points in 15 minutes.
