Brooklyn is good at the moment — as in, one of the best teams in the NBA this month. Despite a rotation that’s 40% rookies, the Nets are 7-3 in December with the NBA’s second-best net rating in the span.

Yet, because they entered Saturday’s game in Minneapolis with only nine wins, they didn’t get the respect and effort the Wolves often reserve from the league’s elite.

The ensuing result was predictable, as Minnesota was embarrassed by the Nets, falling 123-107 on its home floor. Par for the course for the Wolves, who pick and choose — from quarter to quarter, night to night —when to do the little things necessarily to win.

On Saturday, the Wolves issued a “hard pass” on championship standards. They were out-worked and out-disciplined by a young, scrappy, engaged Nets roster. The local supporters were disgusted with Minnesota’s performance, which they demonstrated via audible boos in the final minute.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards lies on the court after being fouled during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)

“I’m with the fans. I would’ve booed us, too,” Wolves guard Anthony Edwards said. “Lack of energy, I don’t know what’s going on. I guess this is just Timberwolves basketball.”

It’s not supposed to be. The Timberwolves’ identity should be rooted in consistent, aggressive tenacity, with defense that turns into offense and hustle and effort plays that set Target Center ablaze. That standard was set during the 2023-24 campaign, which resulted in a Western Conference Finals berth.

It’s slowly slipped ever since.

In the last three weeks alone, Phoenix, Memphis and now Brooklyn have come into Minneapolis and simply out-worked the Timberwolves to secure victories. Also included in that stretch was a seismic win over the defending-champion Thunder.

On that night, the Wolves flashed their teeth and possessed substantial amounts of both bark and bite. It’s clear they deem *that* opponent to be worthy of such efforts, but not others.

The Wolves have played with their food against substandard opponents for much of the first 40% of their season. But oftentimes, they’re so talented they’re able to rally and win games with as little as a quarter of effort-filled basketball.

On Saturday, they had paid the price. Because the Nets were one of the more disciplined teams Minnesota has battled this season. They wouldn’t crack, nor demean themselves with anything less than their best basketball.

“They just played with more physicality, they played with more energy,” Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “And that’s the type of team that they are.”

And who Minnesota only idealizes itself to be.

“We have spurts that that’s what we can do. That’s not necessarily who we are,” DiVincenzo said. “That’s what we need to become.”

That’s always the problem for Minnesota. It picks its spots to deliver complete-game performances that remind the masses who the Wolves can be — usually against a Denver or Oklahoma City in nationally-televised contests — before retreating back into hibernation with designs of re-emerging on a more consistent basis in April and May.

DiVincenzo and Rudy Gobert both noted Saturday that Minnesota tends to overly rely on its talent level. The Wolves can walk into the gym with less than their best and beat a number of NBA teams. But that doesn’t help them develop habits required to beat the league’s best four times in a seven-game series.

Gobert noted Minnesota’s roster is probably better than those of the best teams he played on in Utah. But the Jazz were more consistent, particularly in executing their non-negotiables, regardless of any game’s particular circumstances.

The Wolves don’t have that. If the moment doesn’t specifically call for high levels of urgency, they don’t bring it. And, in the long run, that won’t cut it.

“We want to be champions. With champions, it doesn’t  matter who you play, it’s who you are. You don’t pick and choose. You play every night to … define who you are on the team,” Gobert said. “We have to be conscious about it. … Whatever switch we find that can make us realize that we don’t just compete with OKC, Denver. … We compete with them also when we play, everybody else. We also, more importantly, compete with ourselves.”

One of the more interesting facets of the situation is the players recognize and admit their shortcomings in the department of consistent energy and performance..

“But if you’re really self aware,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said, “then you do something about it.”

That, Finch said, is on the players. He added the Wolves need someone to “galvanize” the roster and spark urgency and intensity on a night-to-night basis.

“It’s where our leadership needs to step forward,” he said.

Perhaps that’s Rudy Gobert, who so frequently is the knight who rides in to save Minnesota from bad losses via his interior dominance. Maybe it’s DiVincenzo, who has an increasingly large voice in the locker room. Ideally, it’d be Edwards — the best teams are led by their best players.

Whoever is going to raise their hand needs to do so in short order.

The Wolves may still be in sixth place in the West, but true championship contenders establish themselves as such by the midway point of the season. The clock is ticking.

“We can’t just look at the season like it’s a failure, but we have to address it of what it is and we have to become what we know we can,” DiVincenzo said. “We can’t rely on talent. We have to come in and use our talent, but every night the energy has to be there. Every night, the competitive spirit has to be there, and it can’t be up and down on a night-to-night basis.”

“I guess we’ve got to change something,” Edwards said. “I don’t know what it is.”

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The Timberwolves were a 20-win team entering Saturday’s contest at Target Center.

Brooklyn was 9-19.

Yet there was zero doubt throughout the evening as to who was the better basketball team. The Nets outclassed Minnesota in every possible department en route to a 123-107 win.

Brooklyn was more disciplined and tougher defensively. It moved, played in transition and made the right plays on offense.

You know, everything good NBA teams do — and what the Wolves can only be bothered to deliver on a sporadic basis.

Perhaps Minnesota — 44 hours removed from a heartbreaking loss to Denver — had Saturday chalked up as a win when it entered the arena. That would’ve been a jarring case of ignorance.

Brooklyn has now won seven of its last 10 games and entered Saturday allowing the NBA’s fewest points per game in December (102.7)

The Nets selected five players in the first round of the June NBA draft and, understandably, started the season slow out of the gates. But Brooklyn has developed a clear brand of basketball that entails doing just about everything the right way.

And Brooklyn received an added boost Saturday in the return of scoring guard Cam Thomas, who missed nearly two months with a hamstring injury. Thomas scored 30 points off the bench in just 20 minutes and served as the Nets’ closer when Minnesota made a mini push in the middle of the final frame.

The Wolves tend to reserve their best basketball for the best opponents. That’s a bad habit, and one that did them in against a team that’s far better than its record indicates.

The Wolves have now lost two straight and are now set to embark on a four-game road trip, beginning Monday in Chicago.

Anthony Edwards scored 28 points in the loss.

Shannon out

Second-year wing Terrence Shannon Jr. will be re-evaluated in two weeks after an MRI revealed a left foot abductor hallucis strain.

Shannon exited in the third quarter of Minnesota’s game Thursday in Denver with the injury.

His absence figures to make Jaylen Clark a more consistent part of Minnesota’s rotation for the time being.

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Relief flooded the United States locker room Saturday after its 2-1 victory over Switzerland in the Americans’ second game of the World Junior Hockey Championships. Not only had the hosts withstood a tenacious, defensive-minded foe to improve to 2-0 in the tournament, there was good news on the injury front.

With nine minutes remaining in the second period, American defenseman Cole Hutson was stretchered off the Grand Casino Arena ice after being hit up high on the left side with a Swiss shot from the point.

The 19-year old Boston University student dropped between the circles in his own zone and didn’t initially move as medical personnel rushed to him. The stretcher was wheeled onto the ice less than a minute after play ceased.

Hutson, a force at even strength and on the power play and penalty kill, moved his legs before being strapped to a back board. He received applause from an announced crowd of 14,306.

American coach Bob Motzko announced postgame that Hutson had showered upon his return from the hospital. Motzko said he didn’t have more information other than specifying that Hutson wasn’t hit in the head, as it appeared on video replays.

“That was a scary situation, but we have a close group of guys and they responded,” said Motzko, whose team received second-period goals from Brodie Ziemer and Will Zellers and eight saves from Nicholas Kempf. “He’s back with us, and we’ll know more in the morning.”

Said Zellers: “Cole’s our best player, hands down. He takes over games. And seeing him go down like that, we knew we had to play for him. You have to push it to the side and be a pro. We had an intense hockey game to win.”

The Americans were snakebit during the first period, failing to score on a half dozen prime chances.

Motzko pointed out that it was Switzerland the U.S. had to beat in the World Championship finals last year.

“We saw on film that the Swiss had a great game plan, and we knew we were in for a tough game,” the coach said. “They’re aggressive and hard and the game turned into… one of those games you have to play to the end. We didn’t blink, and I give our guys a ton of credit.”

The U.S. opened the scoring a minute into the second period after defenseman Chase Reid entered the zone on the right sideboards and fed a skating James Hagens in the center of the ice. Hagens charged down the slot and left a drop pass for Ziemer, who ripped the period’s first shot past a lunging defender, over goaltender Christian Kirsch’s blocker and under the crossbar.

“I called for it and got a nice drop pass and wanted to really step into that one,” Ziemer said. “It was nice to break through there… they box out really well around the net.”

Switzerland scored less than two minutes after Hutson’s injury, Basile Sansonnens firing a shot from center point and over the glove of a screened Kempf. The backstop rebounded on the next shift, however, denying a Swiss breakaway.

“It’s tough on any team when you have one of your teammates go down,” Hagens said. “It’s a shock emotionally, but you have to make sure you wind things back in.”

On the deciding play, Zellers swung wide left around defender Gian Meier and wristed the puck from the bottom of the circle and in off Kirsch. It was the third goal of the tournament for Zellers, a University of North Dakota student and a late addition to the pool from which American players were recently selected.

“I saw him go down a little early, and I had a little bit of a window,” Zellers said. “I ripped it (near) his ear because no one likes to get into the head. I thought I’d fire it there and see what happened. Then I kind of blacked out.”

Kirsch, 6-feet-4, plays for Kitchener in the Ontario Hockey League and was outstanding under consistent pressure while making 12 saves.

The Swiss produced several close calls in the U.S. end as the third period wound down. They were outshot, 18-13, during the game, which ended with the teams on their respective blue lines for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner and a handshake line.

The U.S. next plays Monday when it faces Slovakia at 5 p.m. at Grand Casino Arena. A Tuesday meeting against formidable Sweden concludes group play for the Americans.

The tournament format includes four games of pool play for each team with the top four in each pool advancing to single-elimination quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals and final.

Briefly

Ziemer was announced as the game’s best American player… The U.S. is 26-0-2 against the Swiss at the WJC. … Empty seats liberally dotted the arena’s lower bowl and a generous guess at actual attendance might have been 10,000. … Members of St. Paul’s first-year consolidated boys high school hockey team served as shovel-wielding ice cleaners during time outs in the action. … Scratched for the U.S. after playing in Game 1 against Germany were forward Shane Vansaghi, goaltender Brady Knowling and defenseman Dakoda Rheaunme-Mullen. The latter, who plays for the University of Michigan, is the son of former Canadian women’s goaltender Manon Rheaume, who won a 1998 Olympic silver medal, played five seasons in men’s pro leagues and appeared in two NHL exhibition games for the Tampa Bay Lightning. … U.S. forward Max Plante is the son of former Minnesota-Duluth star and Cloquet native Derek Plante, who played 450 NHL games as well as having pro stints in Germany, Switzerland and Japan. He’s now a Chicago Blackhawks assistant. … Hockey Canada apologized to Friday’s Czechia opponents after the Canadians’ Group B victory. Canada’s players skated off the ice without shaking hands following a testy contest. … The Canadians, by virtue of their fifth-place finish at last year’s WJC, have been assigned a locker room in Ridder Arena, home of the Gophers’ women’s team. Players and coaches must trek out of adjacent 3M Arena at Mariucci, where Group B games are held, through a tunnel connecting the facilities and across the Ridder ice. … Saturday night’s referees were Czech and Canadian and the linesmen Canadian and Finnish.

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Matt Boldy scored his second goal of the game 39 seconds into overtime as the Minnesota Wild rallied, twice, on the road, finding a way to win 4-3 over the Winnipeg Jets in their first game back from the holiday break.

With set-up passes from Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes, Boldy ripped a shot past Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck after Minnesota forced overtime in the final half-minute of regulation with an extra-attacker goal.

Boldy, Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello scored in regulation for the Wild, who got back on the winning track after going losing twice — once in overtime — before Christmas. They got a 23-save effort from Jesper Wallstedt, who is now 11-2-2 this season. His workload included a game-saving stop in the opening minute of overtime.

Boldy now has 24 goals, which is one better than Kaprizov for the team lead.

Outshooting Winnipeg early, the Wild briefly found themselves trailing when Gustav Nyquist split the Minnesota defense and snapped a wrist shot past Wallstedt. The Wild coaches immediately challenged the play for offside and, after a brief review, the goal came off the board when it was determined that Nino Niederreiter had entered the offensive zone prematurely.

Minnesota is now a perfect 4 for 4 on challenges this season.

The reprieve was short-lived. Just a few shifts later, Josh Morrissey’s slap shot from the high slot sailed past the goalie to give Winnipeg the early lead.

Both teams went down a defenseman on the next shift, as Minnesota’s Jake Middleton dropped the gloves with Winnipeg big man Logan Stanley, with both getting a five-minute timeout.

With 91 seconds left in the first, and Boldy under heavy duress from Jets defenseman Luke Schenn at the top of the crease, a Jared Spurgeon shot deflected off Boldy and in, helping the Wild forge a tie after the opening period, despite being outshot 10-5.

Kaprizov tied Boldy for the goals lead in the second period, walking around a Winnipeg defender and popping in a backhand shot to give the Wild their first lead. But the final few minutes of the middle frame were disastrous for Minnesota. First, the Jets tied the game, then Spurgeon left the rink after taking a high stick to the face.

With less than three seconds to play before the second intermission, a lost defensive zone faceoff and a quick wrist shot past Wallstedt sent the Jets to the dressing room with a 3-2 lead.

After Spurgeon returned and the Wild juggled their top two lines to start the third, they got a late power play. They tested the Jets’ net but could not get a third puck over the line until the final half-minute of regulation.

Another Jets penalty and Wallstedt heading to the bench for an extra attacker gave the Wild a 6-on-4 advantage, and Zuccarello forced overtime with his third goal of the season.

Hellebuyck finished with 15 saves for Winnipeg. Minnesota is 2-0-1 now versus the Jets this season. They will play once more in the regular season, with the Jets visiting Grand Casino Arena on Jan. 15.

The Wild’s season-long, seven-game road trip continues Monday night when they visit the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time this season. The game is a 9 p.m. Central start. Minnesota notched a 3-2 overtime win over the Knights in mid-November in St. Paul.

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